I Found Your Diary
by Fiver
Summary: High school student Tala Ivanov finds a discarded diary in the halls and 'accidentally' ends up reading it. Finding himself drawn into the author's world, he sets himself the task of finding them. The only problem is: they don't want to be found. AU
1. Chapter 1

**_Hello all. Random new story from moi. I like this one. I'm going to update and finish it to take a break from my other two stories (I don't plan for this one to be very long). I've been trying so hard to write them that it seems my brain has set up a wall against them in protest…'Seeing Miniature' fans, can you survive on this for a while? New readers too? (I'll probably still make the odd update on my other stories too, when I have a random burst of inspiration. It happens.) Hope you all enjoy. _**

_**I Found Your Diary**_

_**Chapter 1**_

It happened in the morning, when everyone was making their way from homeroom to their first class of the day. The hallway was jammed and everyone had been forced to a complete standstill. Whilst he waited with the rest for some teacher to attempt to clear the congestion, he happened to look down. And he saw it.

Just a notebook. Most likely dropped by some hapless student, and now left lying in the middle of the floor for one thousand pairs of feet to trample on. Left to its demise, probably forgotten about already. Such a shame.

Without really knowing why, he stooped and picked it up, brushing the accumulated dust off of the shiny, padded black cover. A nice notebook, with a proper spine as opposed to a spiral binder. Reasonably thick, not too heavy. One of those books that just feels satisfying to hold in one's hands.

He wondered for a moment who had dropped it. The thought was almost immediately dismissed. What a stupid question. It could have belonged to any one of his one and a half thousand fellow students.

He realized that the traffic was finally beginning to shift. Making a note to hand it into lost-and-found later, he shoved the book into his bag and valiantly fought his way forward through the tide of dull-hearted adolescents who dragged their feet and hung their heads and tried to make their way to class as slowly as was humanely possible. How he hoped that he would never grow to hate school as much as that.

He was managing to make reasonable progress through the crowd. Maybe he'd actually make it to physics before lunchtime.

As it happened, he did. He wasn't even late. How lucky. Or perhaps not. If he had been held up for a while longer by the almost impenetrable mass of humans and semi-humans, then that would have been a few moments less he would have had to spend in the tediousness of this class. He may not loathe school as much as many of the other pupils, but physics was far from being his most wakefulness-inspiring subject.

He took a seat at the back of the class and mentally prepared himself for a mind-numbing fifty minutes of listening to (well, being vaguely aware of hearing) Mr Malden, AKA Merry Malden. Needless to say, the nickname had been applied solely for the purpose of irony.

He was so busy brooding over the unfairness of life that he almost missed his name on the register.

"Tala Ivanov!" the teacher called for what must have been the second or third time.

"Here," he replied, managing to restrain any remark about how he disliked his name being insulted by being spoken in such a sleep-inducing monotone. Normally when someone heard his name for the first time, they did a double-take it was so unusual. But if, heaven forbid, he was ever introduced to anyone by Merry Malden, they'd have hung themselves before he even got to his surname.

Shortly afterwards the lesson began. Almost as soon as it did, eyelids around the room began to droop as if on cue. Unperturbed, the man kept droning on. Tala wondered if he even noticed that no one was listening to him. Looking around the class just now, half of them were asleep, those lucky enough to be seated by the window were making the most of their vantage point and the rest were either doing homework for another class, passing notes among themselves or just doodling. And of course there was himself, twiddling his thumbs and staring at a particularly remarkable area of the floor where the corner of a grey linoleum tile had been peeled back to reveal the dull concrete underneath. Tripping hazard, that.

Maybe he should try counting the cracks in the ceiling.

Or, then again, he could try staying sane.

He started rooting through his bag to find something to amuse himself with. Piece of blu-tack, packet of chewing gum, scrap paper, anything. Anything was better than this torture. Death by monotony.

His hand found the rescued notebook. He pulled it out and plopped it onto his desk. Whoever had been careless enough to lose it surely wouldn't deny him one page to keep his poor, motivation-starved brain alive?

He flipped the book open at a random page.

And it was full of writing.

He blinked and looked closer, leafing through the creamy-white sheets of paper. Page after page of small, neat handwriting, written in everything from plain pencil to glittery blue gel pen.

He went to the very front page. It was a yellow colour with purple flowers creeping all around the border and the words 'This Diary Belongs To' stamped in the middle, with a dotted line underneath.

The line was blank.

But there was writing in the book. So it belonged to someone.

A diary. Right, that meant reading anything in it was a gross invasion of some poor soul's privacy and therefore was a crime he should be hanged for.

…

But he had found it on the floor. Had it fallen, accidentally, out of an over-flowing bag? Or had it been left, no longer wanted? Would anyone ever come to claim it at lost-and-found? Or would it simply become swallowed up among the teeming mass of old gym shorts, plastic figurines, hair bobbles and the odd sock?

Reading just a little wouldn't hurt. He wouldn't say anything about it. No one would ever know. He'd hand it in later, and there'd be no harm done.

His fingers eagerly turned to the next page. The first entry was dated a few months ago. All animosity towards physics forgotten, he began to read.

_9th April_

_I've never tried to keep a diary before. I always thought it a stupid, sentimental practice that people used so that in the future when they have forgotten the woes of their youth they can read their generally fictitious diaries and look back with sickening nostalgia. I never had time for such things. But now I am considering that maybe, if I write the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then perhaps my thoughts, dreams and memories will actually be worth something in the distant future when I have taken up life as a hermit and am ruling over an ever-growing colony of cats. Such is my outlook for my life. _

_Ah yes, my life. Such a dull matter. What wonderful bedtime stories I'll have to tell my children and grandchildren (or cats, as it were.) _

_Then again, the real reason I'm writing this could just be that my Guidance teacher has insisted upon it. She says that life is easier to understand if it's all written down and recorded. Personally I think that life loses its worth if it all has to be documented and filed away in the back of some dusty drawer probably never to be thought of again. How sad. But regardless of this opinion of mine, I still have to write this. 'No less than two pages a day,' I've been told. She insists she won't read it, just look through to make sure that I've written a sufficient amount each day. Oh yes, and if someone left the D-Day plans open on Hitler's desk he wouldn't have read them. _

_Perhaps I should introduce myself. Or maybe not. Does anyone really care who I am? I'm whoever you want me to be, whatever simple definition you think suits me best. If you think I'm a worthless, pathetic nobody, then in your eyes I will always be a worthless, pathetic nobody, regardless of what I say or do to change your mind on the matter. So why should I bother telling you who I think I am? What do you care? _

_I won't write my name or any of my personal details. I want you to form your own opinion of who I am through what I write. If you knew my name and recognized it, then your opinion would be biased by the way you see me act in the outside world, at school or at home, it doesn't matter. That's not ME. I am only me HERE. _

_I wonder who I'm even talking to. This diary? Some never-before-acknowledged imaginary friend? After all, it's not as if I plan on allowing anyone to READ this. Certainly not. Unless I leave it behind after I die and then millions of years in the future, when the human race has driven itself to extinction, higher life forms from other planets may come down and find it and think it a useful source for finding out what it was like to live as a 21st century, angst-ridden, hormone-high Earthling teenager. But apart from that, anyone who reads this while I am still alive will find themselves with their heart cut out and limbs chopped off and being fed to a pack of rabid wolves before they can even say 'I didn't know what it was, I swear'._

Here, Tala squirmed uncomfortably. But this person couldn't kill him in nasty ways if they didn't _know _he'd been reading. And really, how could they know? If they bothered to claim it at lost-and-found, they wouldn't know who had handed it in. And even if they did find out and decided to interrogate him on whether or not he had read anything…he could deny it. Hell, under pain of torture he'd deny it. There was no proof.

Feeling somewhat consoled, he continued reading.

_There are a few things I must mention about my character, however, for you (whoever 'you' are) to form a proper opinion of me._

_Firstly, to other people I am the person who could have been in your class since primary one but you never notice their existence until it's graduation day and you're looking through the yearbook and you see a photograph of them with 'Most Likely to Die Alone' underneath. I'm not entirely sure what the reason for this is. I seem to have some kind of anti-people barrier around me that repels all human beings within a five-mile radius. I've just never made friends in school. Or anywhere really. That's the second thing you should know. I am the 'lone wolf'. Perhaps the primary reason for this is my mysterious afore-mentioned barrier but I can't really deny that I've never made much of an effort to interact with other people. It just never seemed necessary to me. What do I need friends for? To surround me like flies buzzing around an open sewer? That's what the 'popular people' look like. Do you think the flies actually care about the open sewer? No, they just want to see what they can get out of it. The situation with those of high social status is somewhat similar. Think about it. We all know they are perfectly unpleasant people. So why should they have so many friends? The answer is: they DON'T. They have no friends. Only flies in human form. _

_I think I openly expressed this view of mine to them at some point. Needless to say, many were highly insulted. Another contributing factor to my living as an outcast. And guess what? I couldn't care less. _

_There, two pages full. I think that's enough inane babbling for one day. I bid thee farewell. Bah._

He closed the book slowly.

…

Some first entry.

Who was this person writing this? It annoyed him that they had refused to write their name, or anything, really, that would allow him to work out their identity.

But…he wasn't _supposed_ to work out their identity. He was supposed to decide _who _he thought they were. The two seemed to be rather different.

He gave a smirk. Well, this should be fun. After all, Tala Ivanov always did like a challenge.

* * *

_**End of chapter one. So, what are the first impressions? Any good? Bad? Pathetic? Come on, talk to me people.**_

_**In case anyone's wondering, other characters will come into this…it seems that, coincidentally, a lot of the different teams (despite them all actually coming from different countries) attend the same high school. Now ain't that funny. **_

_**Anyone want to vote on a pairing(s)? I never know which ones to put in. **_

_**Please review!**_

_**Until next time…**_

_**Fiver**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_OMG…I'm so happy! First and fore mostly, I got many nice reviews for the first chapter of this story (thank you all so much!) and secondly…I FOUND MY VIDEO TAPE ON WHICH I RECORDED ALMOST THE ENTIRE FIRST SERIES OF BEYBLADE. Hehe, call me sad, I really don't care. I just sat and watched the entire Russian tournament/Bio-volt part. I'd actually forgotten how scary and evil the Demolition Boys are in the TV show (except they're not really…they're just misunderstood. Really). And I hate how Boris says Tala's name. He says it like 'Tulla'. It kills it. 'Rise, Cyber-Tulla!' See, it doesn't work. Well I guess I can call watching it research for the writing of this story, since it centres on the main characters of that part… (Ah what the hell, I just wanted to watch it.) I am now filled with renewed enthusiasm for Tala. Yay, he's so cool!_**

_**Ok, enough of my yammerings. Answers to a few questions about this story:**_

_**1) No, the diary author is NOT an O/C. That would be no fun at all to write because then people would never guess who it was! **_

**_2) Most characters will make an appearance, short or otherwise, or at least be mentioned. _**

**_3) Someone said they didn't want to vote on a pairing because they weren't sure what I was comfortable writing. Well, I have nothing against shonen-ai. Would anyone here be offended by it? I have to say, though, it'd be nothing serious. I can't write full-on lemon or anything (no, I'm FAR too young. Haha). I don't know…I guess the pairings will just occur as I type. Most stuff happens like that. _**

_**With that said…on with chapter two. **_

_**I Found Your Diary**_

_**Chapter 2**_

During the course of the morning, Tala had absorbed absolutely no information from any of his classes. His body had been sitting in the class, but his mind had been inside that diary. Even in workshop, a class he ordinarily enjoyed and was reasonably good at, his concentration just hadn't been there and he had ended up putting the chisel he had been using right through his piece of wood. (Luckily there had been spares, one of which the teacher exasperatedly gave him.)

He hadn't had a chance to read any further, having been in classes with irritatingly watchful teachers ever since the end of physics. So now, at lunchtime, he was eager to discover more of the mysterious musings of the notebook's owner.

However, as he made his way to the cafeteria, a thought struck him.

…Hadn't he said that he would hand it in?

…

He really should. It was the 'right' thing to do.

But it just seemed like the diary's author was _taunting _him, saying 'Haha! You don't know who I am! And you never will!'

He reached the lost-and-found office. He looked at it for a moment, fidgeting indecisively…before continuing on his way. He'd hand it in later. He knew his mind would never be at ease until he knew who this person was. With this in mind, he entered the cafeteria.

After taking a tray and purchasing his lunch, which consisted of a chicken-mayo sandwich and a bottle of water, he grabbed himself a seat at his usual table with his small group of friends. This group was made up solely of Bryan (dubbed by classmates 'the scary one), Ian ('the short one') and Spencer ('the incredible hulk'). And, of course, himself. He wasn't sure how his classmates referred to him. Maybe it was better that way. (Although, Ian constantly insisted that the girls called him 'the good-looking one'.)

"You're late," Bryan remarked, not looking up from the book he had his nose stuck in. Tala glanced at it. Stephen King's 'The Shining'. Typical Bryan-reading.

"I got kept back in chemistry," he said with a shrug, "Teacher said I was being 'spacey'."

Silence fell upon the group, only broken by Ian dropping his fork.

"…What?" Tala asked, looking nervously at his three comrades.

"Ugh, what is it this time?" Bryan groaned, closing his book.

"It's not a girl, is it?" Ian said, somewhat worriedly.

Spencer, not the biggest talker, simply shook his head at him in apparent annoyance.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tala asked in annoyance.

"Ian, explain," Bryan ordered. For once the other didn't argue.

"It's common knowledge, Tala, that you have a serious one-track mind complex," the smallest member of the group said in his 'aged English scholar voice', "And we can always tell when you've had some new big idea or challenge because your brain becomes entirely focused on that and you forget the existence of everything else around you."

"Not true…" the red-head mumbled just loud enough for Bryan's radar-ears to pick up.

"It damn well is true," the stoic teen retorted, "If I may take you back to ninth grade when, after being posed a maths problem, you didn't speak to anyone for about a week, failed roughly three tests in various subjects and missed two important soccer games whilst puzzling over it."

"But I did work it out in the end," Tala pointed out in his defence.

"Yes, you did," Bryan continued, "You phoned me up and told me, remember? You phoned me at _three thirty _in the morning to tell me that you finally found the solution, which you then related to me along with all ten pages of working. I know I'm an early riser, but even I was asleep then."

"I said I was sorry."

"Nonetheless. Anyway, hurry up and tell us what it is now. The world is not an entirely safe place while your head is in the clouds," Bryan concluded, picking up his book again (but Bryan did possess the peculiar ability to concentrate on more than one thing at a time, so Tala knew he was listening).

"It's nothing, really," Tala said, opening his bottle of water, "I just…ah, never mind."

"Oh God, it is a girl, isn't it?" Ian said, putting his head in his hands. Tala rolled his eyes.

"No," he replied. Ian looked up, looking more concerned than before.

"Is it a guy?" he asked, eyebrows raised. Tala spluttered on the water he was drinking.

"Ian, NO," he said firmly, "Just…no."

"Than what it is!" all three – even Spencer – demanded.

"Alright, alright!" he said in defeat, "It's nothing big. I just found something, that's all. A diary."

"So why are you going 'spacey' over that?" Ian asked, resuming eating now that the initial panic was over.

"Because I need to work out who it belongs to."

"Couldn't you just give it to lost-and-found?"

"Yeah I thought of that but…it's just annoying me. I mean, the person wouldn't even _write _who they were. They're doing it on purpose because-"

"Wait, hold up," Bryan said, raising a hand ('The Shining' once again having to wait), "You _read _this diary?"

"Well, not all of it. Just the first entry."

"Tala, that's-"

"I know, I'm scum. I couldn't help it. I mean, I was in physics."

"You're forgiven," Ian declared (who, incidentally, was going to have to suffer the tediousness of Mr Malden next lesson).

"Yeah. Anyway, whoever wrote it…it's like they're actually _challenging _anyone who reads it to find out who they are. And you know that-"

"You never back down from a challenge," his three 'friends' finished for him.

"Right," he said with a sigh.

"So, what, this person actually wrote 'if you read this you have to work out who I am'?" Ian asked sceptically.

"Not exactly…they actually wrote something more along the lines of 'if you read this I will kill you in a very painful manner'."

"It's your funeral, Tala," Bryan said flatly.

"I know."

"How are you supposed to know who it is?" Spencer asked suddenly, "If they haven't written it?"

"He has a point."

"I'm not sure…" Tala mused (his sandwich all but forgotten), "It's like…there are clues, y'know? Like, they wrote that they're a 'lone wolf'…"

"The two of you should get married," Bryan remarked, earning himself a glare.

"'Lone wolf'?" Ian said, raising an eyebrow, "What does that mean? They have no friends?"

"…Yeah, I guess," he agreed, deciding there was no more sensitive way to phrase it. After all, the mystery author had written that same thing themselves.

"So they're…" Ian said mischievously, "A drifter?"

The other three gave a collective sigh at the term. It was the name assigned to anyone who didn't belong to any particular 'group' of people. They had all been 'drifters' themselves, until they had all met and banded together in middle school. Right now, as they subconsciously started looking around the lunch hall, all the different groups were apparent. And then, interspersed among them, some at tables by themselves, some just wandering, were the drifters. Outcasts. Lone wolves. Whatever you wanted to call them.

"Kind of sad, don't you think?" Tala said, remembering the days when he had been one of those people. Of course, he hadn't wandered the cafeteria. He had stayed outside.

"Hn," was Bryan's response. He had always stayed outside too. That was where he and Tala had – quite literally – bumped into each other. After yelling at him and getting yelled at in return, they had quickly become firm friends.

"So all we have to do is interrogate every drifter in the school, find out who this diary belongs to, and you'll be back to normal?" Ian said.

"I'm normal _right now_," Tala insisted, annoyance increasing.

"No you aren't, your eyes are already getting that 'far-away look'." Bryan said, "Come on, let's go round up some lone wolves."

"No!" Tala said as his rather violent friend got to his feet, "No, that's not how it's meant to work. I'm supposed to read the thing, and _from that _work out who it is."

"But that'll take too long. And, remember, you're not actually _supposed_ to read it."

"Give me a break, huh? I'll figure it out," Tala said, silently sighing with relief as Bryan resumed his seat, "And if I find out you've been interrogating anyone…"

"Relax, Red," the other teen said; using the old nickname in reference to Tala's blood-red hair, "It's all yours. Just remember we have a soccer game on Saturday. Inter-school's cup, semi-final. Do NOT forget, no matter how absorbing your little diary becomes."

"The way you talk, you'd think _you_ were team captain," Tala (who was, in reality, team captain) said in amusement.

"Hn."

Bryan had gone back to the ghostly apparitions and supernatural occurrences of 'The Shining'. Tala finally started to unwrap his polythene-smothered sandwich. Sadly, it was at that moment that the bell signalling the end of lunchtime rang. He stared for a moment at the untouched sandwich.

"Oh well," he said with a shrug, tossing it in the bin as he passed. One pound eighty well spent. (A/N – I wasn't going to risk using any currency other than my own because I'd probably end up making a sandwich cost the same as a Porsche.)

"Hey, Tala, one question," Ian said as they headed toward their lockers.

"What?"

"When you find out who this person is, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not sure…" he said thoughtfully, "But whoever they are, I think they should really be a part of our 'group'. Because, seriously, from what I've read so far, they pretty much sound like…one of us."

"You mean clinically unstable with slight violent tendencies and would never fit in with normal people?"

"Yeah," he said with a faintly melancholy look, "Just like that."

It seemed like Fate had taken a particular interest in Tala Ivanov today. Because surely it had been more than mere coincidence that he had been the one, out of one thousand five hundred other students, to pick up that diary. And it couldn't have been an accident either that he was the type of person who would devote his time to reading it and uncovering its author's identity, rather than someone who would do the 'right thing' and simply hand it in. No, he had been _meant _to find it. Fate had had a hand in this.

And now, Fate was going to give things another little nudge.

Because when Tala entered his locker combination to retrieve his books, the thing wouldn't open. He tried again and again, but no. The locker that had worked perfectly since it had been assigned to him was now jammed shut. He sighed exasperatedly. Oh well. It was only Computing he was missing.

Soon the corridor was empty, all the other students having found their lockers in good working order and already left for their next classes. He grumbled an obscenity to himself and gave the locker a frustrated kick. Unfortunately, this caused it to burst open and half of its contents spilled out onto the floor at his feet.

"I do not believe this…" he mumbled, stooping to pick everything up. He stuffed it all haphazardly back into the locker, extracting the books he would need for the afternoon. Once he had everything he required crammed into his bag, he turned around.

But the funny thing was, the very second, the very instant he turned around, another figure came power-walking around the corner, almost colliding with him. Right at that exact second.

Wow, Fate sure was on a role today.

The two stood face to face for a moment, blinking in surprise. Then the other lowered his gaze, muttered some apology and stepped to the side. Tala looked at him with a frown. He didn't think he'd ever seen him before. After all, he was sure he would have remembered him if he had. He was reasonably tall – almost the same height as himself – but oddly thin looking, as if he didn't eat much. He wore a black T-shirt, and the bones in his elbows and wrists could be seen easily. But despite that, he looked as though he was strong. He sported a messy shock of blue-grey hair, light at the front, darkening to indigo towards the back. Odd, Tala thought. Not that he could talk, of course. His eyes were currently shadowed by his hair, so he couldn't discern anything about them.

But by far the most striking feature of the newcomer were the twin blue shark fins, tracing up each side of his face.

* * *

**_End of chapter two. Hm, three guesses who this new person is (anyone who gets it wrong is getting a fish-slap). _**

_**So how was that? I was originally going to make Kai part of the DemoBoys 'group' but…meh, I changed my mind. **_

**_I don't know if Tala seems like the type to be 'spacey' but I always thought he seemed like someone who, once they have a goal in mind, all their efforts become focused towards it and all else is pushed aside. I guess I was just playing around with that personality trait. _**

_**Aw, there was no diary entry in this chapter…worry not, there will definitely be one in chapter three (did anyone even notice?)**_

_**For their reviews, thanks go out to:**_

_**Kimkizna (the first reviewer!), RoseOfSharon28, Saphira's Ember, Darksouled Saiyanphoenix, Rise From Thy Ashes, Ms. Controversy, Moon Comix, Silverspoon and Liliana.**_

**_Well, please tell me what you think of chapter 2. _**

_**Until my next update…**_

_**Fiver**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Wow, I seem to be on an updating spree lately, haha. There won't be anything for the next two weeks though, cos I'm off on holiday! (Dons sunglasses) See ya'll when I get back!**_

**_Once again I must thank you all for your wonderful reviews. They are all greatly appreciated, I assure you. I must admit, I was astounded at the amount of feedback I received for chapter 2. Chapter 1 was reasonably popular, but not exactly what you would call an instant hit (although I was very impressed with what it got). So after adding the second chapter, I sign in to hotmail, expecting maybe five or six new reviews, and I get hit with about fifteen! There are not words to express my amazement! Thank you all so much! _**

_**One thing though…**_

_**A lot of people were asking questions like 'Why does the front page of the diary have flowers on it? That's not a very Kai-like thing!' **_

_**I must ask you all…**_

_**Who ever said anything about Kai being the diary author?**_

_**I didn't even type his name, never mind that.**_

**_Just because he appeared at the end of the last chapter (I didn't have to fish-slap anyone. You all knew who it was) doesn't mean that it's him! (As the old saying goes, 'assume' makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'.) _**

**_And also, the diary was provided by the Guidance teacher. Therefore, the author had no choice in the decoration of the front page. (Perhaps that is why they didn't write their name on it…also, the flowers are printed on, not doodled. Someone thought they were doodles. Nope, printed on with the diary.) They could be anyone, male, female or otherwise. (Otherwise? Oo) _**

_**Anyway…if you're still reading, enjoy chapter three.**_

_**I Found Your Diary**_

_**Chapter 3**_

"Hey…" Tala said uncertainly, "You new here? Are you lost?"

After all, apart from the newcomer also having found his locker out of commission, he could think of no other reason that the other boy would still be wandering the halls at this time.

The stranger looked at him, expression mildly surprised, as if he hadn't been expecting anyone to speak to him.

"New?" he replied, one eyebrow raised, "Hn, I guess so. But I'm not lost."

"Then where are you going?" he asked, forgetting for the moment that his computing teacher was probably marking him absent as they spoke. The boy snorted.

"I'm going out that frickin' door," he said plaintively, pointing at the exit at the end of the corridor, "And I'll be damned if I'm coming back."

"That's called cutting class," Tala said in slight amusement, "You really shouldn't do that."

"Why would you care what I do?" the other said coldly, walking past him and towards the exit. Tala frowned and looked after him. _'Why would you care?' _That sounded…familiar.

"Hey, what's your name?" he called after him.

As the boy reached the door, he turned around and smirked dryly.

"Why?" he said, "You want to report me?"

And with that, he was gone, letting the door slam shut behind him as he made his apparent break for freedom. He had an undeniable look about him, like he was always running away from one thing or another. Like…he didn't want to form a connection to anything. Or anyone either, probably.

Or maybe he was just thinking too deeply. Hello, the kid was playing hooky. Of course he'd look edgy.

Tala stared after him for a moment longer…before realizing that he was now no less than ten minutes late for his computing class.

Later that day (after receiving a severe lecture on unpunctuality) as he walked home with his friends, he mentioned the strange newcomer to them. Ian and Spencer didn't seem to have ever seen him either. Bryan, however, spoke up, without once taking his eyes off of the book he had been somewhat deprived off at lunchtime.

"You mean the kid with the face-paint, right?" he said almost as soon as Tala started attempting to describe him.

"Huh? Yeah, that's right, the blue triangle thing," Tala replied, blinking, "You know him?"

"No one really does," the lilac-haired teen replied with a shrug, "Seems to be pretty good at making himself invisible. He started here about a month back."

"A _month?"_

"Like I said, very good at staying invisible. He's in our maths class. Don't tell me none of you noticed?"

The other three all shook their heads dubiously. Bryan sighed exasperatedly.

"Well it's a good thing I have some degree of perception, otherwise we'd be walking into things by now," he remarked, "Take a look tomorrow in maths. He sits in the back right-hand corner. Chose that seat himself. Hn, weirdo if you ask me."

"You're fairly weird yourself," Tala said, giving his friend a mock-punch on the arm, "Any other information you'd care to divulge to us?"

"All I know is that his name is Kai Hiwatari," he replied, "Aside from that, Sherlock, I'd say you were on your own. What's the big deal, anyway? Got a crush on him?"

This time Tala's punch was not entirely friendly.

"Don't be stupid," he said, "It's just…y'know, the diary thing."

"You think _he_ wrote it?"

"I don't know…maybe."

"Tala, he's a guy. Guys in general do not write diaries."

"You should really get your views on gender reassessed, Bryan. And anyway, they wrote that their guidance teacher was forcing them to write it."

"Still, it seems unlikely. I didn't think that even guidance teachers would be that cruel."

"I guess so. I just needed somewhere to start."

"There are really times when I wish you would just let things go, Tala," Ian said dully.

"Whatever. You'd be pissed deep down if I changed," he said with a smirk as they reached his house, "See you tomorrow."

They said their farewells and went on their way. As soon as he entered the house he immediately retreated to his room, not wishing to face his parents' inevitable questioning about what he had 'achieved' that day. They drove him nuts sometimes. They didn't want the best for him. They wanted him to be the best.

At his desk, he tried to make a start on his homework, but found his thoughts constantly wandering. He smiled wryly. _'Spacey,'_ he thought.

Knowing what the source of his distraction was, he extracted it from his bag. The diary. It felt like time for a little more light reading. He flipped it open and found the next entry and soon found himself engrossed in it.

_10th April_

_Yeah, I'm back. I was kind of hoping my guidance teacher would be satisfied with the one insult-filled entry I managed to produce, but it seems she's a glutton for punishment. Heh, not my problem. She's not reading this ANYWAY, right? So she can't say anything even if I write she's an OLD UGLY BAT WHO WEARS A WIG AND HAS NO LIFE AND SHOULD HAVE RETIRED ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO. Pfffft._

_I hate school. You would not BELIEVE how much I hate school. I have to spend six hours a day, five days a week, surrounded by complete idiots (and that's just the teachers). Like I already told you, I have never taken much of a liking to my classmates either. I don't think there was a single one I didn't hate at my old school. I'm reasonably sure that some of my new fellow students are perfectly nice people. But I don't think I want to run the risk of finding out. _

_I think English has to be one of the worst classes of all. Believe it or not, I actually LIKE to write. But the kind of crap we have to write in that class…it could bore the backside off a concrete donkey. _

_Sadly enough, through years of close study, I have actually come up with a dictionary entitled 'What Teachers Say and What Teachers Mean'. Seriously. I think I might actually write it and get it published just to annoy some of these dolts. Here are a few extracts: (They are, in particular, intended for English but can be applied to pretty much any subject.)_

'_Good try' means 'Well you got it all wrong and are therefore obviously stupid but at least you made the effort'._

'_Well done' means 'Wow, you've surprised me by actually doing something right'._

'_This is not up to your usual standard' means 'Dear God, this is even worse than usual'._

'_You'd do better if you listened more' means 'Come back once you've developed an IQ and an attention span'._

'_Things have changed since my day' means 'I wasn't this stupid when I was your age'._

'_I want to see your personal response to this poem/play/story' means 'I have decided that this poem/play/story is happy/sad and all you have to do is find a clever way to word it. You are allowed no actual opinion yourself'._

_Seriously, it's like forceful conformity. You end up with thirty essays saying almost exactly the same thing. I wonder if the examiners read the essays and think 'Wow, how strange that every single pupil thought that this was sad and effective and emotion-stirring. My teenage son thought it was a load of rubbish.' _

He stopped reading for a moment to give a snort of laughter. Whoever this person was, they were a genius. A hardened, cynical little genius.

_Wow, this is pointless. I don't even know what else to write. I think everything that I HAVE written so far is kind of the opposite of what my stupid-ugly-wig-wearing Guidance teacher intended for me to write. Y'know what I mean, she was probably expecting something more emotional, more triumph-of-the-human-spirit-y. Something that might explain why I'm so 'screwed up'. Yeah, that's WHY I'm being forced to keep a diary. Because I'm screwed up. Or so they say. (Naturally, the teachers don't say it that way. They'd lose their jobs if they did. They say stuff like I'm 'a challenging pupil' and 'emotionally disorientated'. Shows how much they know.) Maybe I am just screwed up. I don't know. I know I'm kind of different from everyone else. So am I the screwed up one, or the only normal one in the world? I don't really give a damn either way but maybe if I could work out a way to seem more 'normal' then I could stop writing this stupid thing._

_Not to worry, though. No doubt I'll be out of this place pretty soon anyway. Whether I'm expelled, get a transfer or just start refusing to go, it doesn't matter. I can't stay in one place too long. Not since the accident. I don't know why it's affected me this way. It's like, ever since then, I've always been running from place to place. I don't get it. Am I looking for something? If I was, wouldn't I know? And wouldn't I know what I was looking for? _

_Dad used to say that to me: 'Kid, you were born to live, not to run. Settle down, eh?' Maybe he was wrong. Because it really feels like I was just born to run._

_Ok, getting pathetic and soppy now. At least that'll satisfy the teacher. Oh, wait, I forgot, she's NOT READING THIS. Whoops, my mistake. Tch, whatever. I'm gone. _

Tala couldn't help but laugh again. What was the kid thinking, not wanting anyone to read this? It should be _published! _(Along with, of course, 'What Teachers Say and What Teachers Mean'.)

But what was 'the accident'? That didn't sound funny at all. Unable to make any sense of it, he decided that he would only be able to interpret it if the author mentioned it again in a later entry, in more detail.

Something in the text caught his eye. He frowned and read it again.

'…_born to run.'_

And earlier in it, they spoke about their 'old school'.

But 'born to run'…that seemed to confirm it.

He quickly pulled out a piece of paper and made a note, Kai Hiwatari now number one on his list of candidates for 'who wrote the diary'.

_**End of chapter 3. **_

_**Hey, Tala's assuming too. Like I said, it makes an 'ass'…ah whatever, you know how it goes. **_

_**Thank you's:**_

_**Phi ScarlaDraconia: Haha…that made me laugh…yes, well done, it was Kai. Thank you for reviewing!**_

**_XxMookinexX: Like I said at the start of this chapter, I never said the diary author was Kai…lol, yeah, drifters are a kind of fact of life. Every school has its drifters (so sad…). Yay, spaciness…I know what you mean, a lot of people seem to write fics in which Tala has never been within 100 miles of the abbey and yet he acts exactly how he does in the TV show! Give the poor boy a break, I say! And you don't have to be quiet, I love long reviews! Thank you for reviewing, hope you liked this chapter!_**

_**nomi: True about the glitter pen thing…well, I'm not giving anything away, hehe. Everyone can have their own theory as to who it is, but it won't be revealed until it's revealed! Que sera sera! (Or something…) Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**_

_**Rise From Thy Ashes: O.O Wow, you really gave this some thought…well I hope the diary entry in this chapter was good enough for you. Yeah I know, the girls mostly suck in the TV series…but I still don't know what pairings I'm putting in…they usually just appear as I write them, lol. Thanks for your review.**_

_**Ray-Tiger-Cat: LOL, yes, he's really soft and sweet inside (hm…seems unlikely somehow Oo) Well Dreams Down Memory Lane has been updated, so I hope you like that chapter too. Hope you liked this chapter as well. Thanks for reviewing!**_

**_SilverSpoon: Omg, what is it with everyone and these glitter pens?_****_I wrote that as an afterthought but everyone seems to be picking up on it! XD Well, good for you! I would never have noticed it! Hm, I hope Kai seemed enough in character for you (even though he was only there for like…one page. Fear not, he comes back.) Thank you for your review!_**

_**Also thanks to Kimkizna, Darksouled Saiyanphoenix, silverdranzer, OOkamijin, Beeku, thnku4thevenom, Mina the Mischevious, KawaiiYuki, Alexis Hoheimer, CandyKittenMao, Aperira, Deidara lover48 and Cookeh. You all rock!**_

_**Well, see you next time!**_

_**Please review!**_

_**Fiver**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I Found Your Diary**_

_**Chapter 4**_

Bryan arrived at school, exactly ten minutes early as usual. He walked straight past the place where he and Tala usually met up in the mornings, knowing fine well that his friend wouldn't be there. He always went someplace else when he was spaced out about something.

He pushed the door to the school library open and entered. As expected, his red-headed friend was sitting at a nearby desk, poring over a notebook. The infamous diary, Bryan supposed.

"Worked it out yet?" he said in greeting, flopping into the chair next to Tala's.

"Hm…nope," Tala replied, not looking up and not looking remotely surprised that he had just appeared.

"Are you close?"

"I dunno."

Bryan rolled his eyes. Yup, Tala had just officially hit peak spaciness.

"I'm still pretty convinced it's Hiwatari," he said, probably more to himself than his friend, "But I haven't really thought about anyone else yet so…I dunno."

"What makes you think it's Hiwatari?" Bryan asked, trying his best to keep Tala engaged in conversation since that usually kept his brain at least partially on this planet.

"Mm…it said something about an 'old school', meaning that they're a reasonably new student here – which he is. Also, the first entry is dated the ninth of April: about a month ago. When did he start here? About a month ago. It all seems to add up, is all."

"There've been a few new students over the past little while," he pointed out, "Why don't you go observe them?"

"I wonder if I could get the detention list…" Tala mused, having obviously not even heard what he had said.

"What?"

"I need the list of people who had detention on the twelfth of April."

"Why…?"

He pointed to a particular paragraph on the page he was reading. Bryan leaned over to scan it.

_12th April_

_I'm getting really bored with writing in this thing. I think eventually I'll just end up writing 'bla bla bla' for two pages just to get it over with. _

_Today: not a particularly good day. All the usual crap happened, plus half a tonne extra piled on top. Life sucks._

_I was in drama class (do not ASK how I ended up in that subject) and we were instructed to sit in a circle and go around the circle one by one, looking at each person and saying which animal you thought best represented their personality. When it came to me I decided it might not go down well for me to point at each of them and say 'Dog, cow, FEMALE dog, rat, weasel, etc, etc'. And so I did my best to be polite, reflecting on the possible good points that each of them might possess. However, I eventually reached one girl whose very existence I despise to the point of homicide. She seems to divide her time between pissing me off (deliberately or not) and being in a bedroom doing things that those under sixteen would do well to avoid. So, when asked for her animal, I couldn't help but say "She's a ferret". When asked for my reasoning that led me to such a conclusion, I pleasantly explained that when a female ferret comes into season she has to mate or she might die. In other words: overly desperate for sex. I thought it rather unfair that my honesty earned me nothing more than a detention._

Bryan raised an eyebrow. Tala had an amused smile on his face.

"Quite a character isn't he?" he remarked.

"Or she," Bryan reminded him.

"Just for that, I wish I had picked drama as a subject. I bet the look on that girl's face would have been priceless."

"You don't even know who it was," Bryan pointed out.

"I think I can make an educated guess…" he replied.

"Who?"

A high-pitched squeal could suddenly be heard coming from outside. It sounded rather reminiscent of a cat performing on the garden fence at midnight. Both boys winced.

"Who else?" Tala said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Mariah," Bryan said, understanding.

"Yeah."

"You should ask her, Red. You know she's got a little thing for you."

"Doesn't she _have_ a boyfriend?"

"Uh huh, that Kon guy. But she still likes you. And, as your beloved mystery author has so kindly pointed out…" he gestured to the diary, "He doesn't seem to be the only one she's going with."

"Don't be crude."

"Whatever. All I'm saying is, you find out who called her a ferret, you find out who wrote the goddamn diary, and life can go back to normal. And you won't miss the soccer game on Saturday."

Tala blinked and looked at him.

"Soccer game?" he said in surprise.

"Yes, on Saturday. I told you about it."

"Really? When?" the red-head asked distantly, going back to reading the diary. Bryan was tempted to hit his own – or Tala's – head off the desk. If they didn't have this thing worked out by the end of the week, their interschool champions' title was all but history.

* * *

"Ok, can you give us the answer to number thirteen, Tala?"

"…"

"Tala?"

"…"

"_Tala_!"

"What, what?" he yelled, snapping out of his daze, "Jeezus, what the hell do you _want_? Give me a goddamn break!"

He immediately mentally slapped himself over the head as he realized that the perpetrator he had just exploded at was a teacher. Luckily (for him, at least) she was just a student teacher here on placement, not accustomed to dealing with whacko pupils quite yet, and she shrank back at his outburst. A second strike of luck was that the bell rang just then, so he quickly stuffed his books into his bag and made for the door. Bryan and Ian – who had also been in the class – quickly caught up with him.

"Well if that doesn't make her alter her career choice, nothing will," Ian commented.

"You were in another world there," Bryan said, half in annoyance, half in harsh amusement, "You better have your wits about you for our next class. We're in PE, and it's 'Sudden Death Dodge-Ball'."

"The fact that you say 'sudden death' with such relish rather concerns me, Bry," Tala said with a smirk.

Once they had all emerged from the changing rooms and done their two-lap warm-up, the coach called them all over.

"Alright, boys," he bellowed after blowing his whistle for quiet, "We're playing the game a little differently today."

Tala could almost see the horrified expression on Bryan's face that said 'What, you mean I _don't_ get to incapacitate my fellow pupils by dealing them a fatal, red-rubber-ball blow to the head?'

"We're going to take advantage of the fact that we have so many trees on campus," he continued, gesturing to the sizeable 'forest' behind the gymnasium, "I'm going to put you into pairs. Each pair will be armed with one dodge-ball. If either one of you are hit by another pair's dodge-ball, you're both out. Last two in the game win."

Tala couldn't help but grin. This really sounded like his and Bryan's kind of game. Hunting in the woods, huh?

He made his way over to his lilac-haired friend, whilst Ian paired up with Spencer. However, the coach took one look at them and shook his head.

"Oh no," he said, "No way are you two going as a team."

"Why's that?" Tala asked in surprise.

"Because the game would be over in three minutes and half my students would need to be hospitalized," he said with a laugh, "Nope, I don't think so. Bryan, you go with Kenny."

A small, bespectacled boy jumped at the mention of his name. He 'eeped' in terror as Bryan scowled and took hold of his arm, dragging him forcefully towards the trees after claiming a dodge-ball. Tala snickered. They were an odd couple.

"And you, Ivanov…" the coach said reflectively, "Ah, you can go with Hiwatari."

Tala blinked.

"Hey, Hiwatari! Come on, get over here!" the coach hollered. Tala followed his line of vision. Sure enough, it was the boy he had met in the hall. He currently stood with his back leaning against the wall of the gymnasium, eyes shut stubbornly. At the coach's call he grudgingly started to walk towards them. His movements were fluid and precise, each step calm and calculated. Something told Tala that he had been landed with a better partner than Bryan.

"I didn't know he was in this class," he said, half to himself.

"Yeah, well that's because, since he arrived here, he hasn't once _shown up_ for this class," the coach said irritably, "Damn truant. Don't know how he gets away with it."

By this time the boy had reached them. He raised his head to look at them, eyes full of almost arrogant boredom. Tala was somewhat taken aback to see that his eyes were a dark crimson colour, almost red. Eyes of the devil, huh?

"Hurry up and get in the game, you two," the coach said, sending them on their way with a flap of his hand. Tala picked up a dodge-ball and led the way into the trees.

He didn't know what the hell Fate was up to this week, but he sure hoped it knew what it was doing.

"So, you've been skipping PE too?" he said to his unexpected companion.

"So it would seem," he replied. Tala couldn't understand how he was so calm. This was the kind of game that brought out his own highly competitive streak and put him right on the edge. Right now, even the diary was pushed to the back of his mind as the adrenaline started to kick in.

"It's funny, though," the other continued, "I don't seem to have been pulled up over missing class yesterday. I guess you changed your mind about reporting me?"

Tala gave a snort.

"I was never going to report you anyway," he said as he pushed a branch out of the way to clear their path, "It's none of my business what you do."

"Then why did you ask for my name?" he asked suspiciously, crimson eyes narrowed. Tala shrugged.

"Just because I didn't know it, I suppose," he answered.

"Whatever…" the other said with a frown, "It's Kai anyway. Just so you don't have to call me 'Hiwatari'."

Tala stopped himself just in time from saying 'I already knew that'.

"Alright," he said instead, "I'm Tala, just so you don't have to call me 'Guy-who-was-going-to-report-me-for-playing-hooky."

Kai looked surprised for a moment then gave a wry smirk as they continued through the trees.

Not long afterwards the first onslaught occurred. Kai froze for a moment – like an animal sensing danger - and then suddenly hit the deck. Before Tala could ask what he was doing, a dodge-ball came whizzing through the space where he previously had been standing, instead bouncing off the trunk of a nearby tree and falling harmlessly to the ground. He whistled appraisingly.

"Oh, you're good," he said nodding as his 'comrade' got back to his feet.

"Give me the ball," Kai ordered quietly, the trace of a sadistic Bryan-smile on his face. Wordlessly, Tala handed it over, curious as to what would happen next. The dual-haired boy seemed to take aim, and then sent the ball flying towards a clump of nearby bushes. This was shortly followed by a cry of pain and shock. Two boys emerged from behind the bushes, one holding his nose. Tala couldn't stop himself laughing.

"You're out, McGregor," he pointed out to the boy with the probably bleeding nose.

"Ah, shut up," Johnny McGregor said, directing a fierce glare at Kai before turning to go back to the gym, his partner Enrique in tow.

Kai went and retrieved the triumphant dodge-ball.

"Jeez, you fired that thing like a bullet," Tala said, still half-laughing at the stuck-up Johnny's demise, "You play baseball or something?"

"No…" Kai replied, looking mildly disbelieving that he could even think such a thing.

"I suppose that's a good thing," he mused, "You'd probably kill someone if you did."

The game continued. It soon became apparent that, despite his composed exterior, Kai was also a spirited competitor. Especially at rather violent games such as this, it seemed.

They must have taken out about eight other pairs. Tala had quickly discovered that he got better results from kicking the ball instead of throwing it. Even Kai had looked somewhat impressed the first time he had punted the ball so hard that the offending student (who was unlucky enough to be the target) had almost been knocked unconscious.

"You play soccer or something?" he said, in obvious imitation of his own questioning earlier.

"I do actually," Tala replied, "Captain of the junior department's team."

"I didn't even know this school had a soccer team."

"There's one for the juniors and one for the seniors. I can't wait to become a senior. Somehow being captain of the 'junior team' doesn't sound incredibly impressive. Like it's the kids' version or something."

"You should think yourself lucky," Kai pointed out, "You're barely even a junior. You're just a first-year."

"So are you."

"But I'm not complaining about it. How'd you become captain anyway? Aren't there older students on the team?"

Tala paused in his tracks for a moment.

"Why so interested?" he asked off-handily, "You want to join or something?"

"No," his companion snapped haughtily.

The trees around them seemed very quiet and empty all of a sudden.

"You think everyone else is out?" Tala wondered aloud.

"How should I know?"

They made their way back in silence. As they emerged from the trees they were met by the rest of their class (many of them sporting painful-looking bruises).

"Looks like we have our winners, boys," the coach declared, ticking their names off the list he had apparently been keeping.

"Hey, we won," Tala said in slight surprise (alone, he knew he could win many things. But he was unaccustomed to winning a team game unless Bryan was also a part of said team).

"Yeah, I heard," Kai said dully.

"I guess we make a pretty good team?" he said with a trace of a smile.

"No," the other replied dispassionately, "You're a good player, I'm a good player. That's all there is to it. The fact that we were a 'team' – or more specifically, we had to share a dodge-ball – doesn't come into the equation."

With that, he turned and walked away. Tala watched his retreating back, puzzled.

'Kind of grouchy, isn't he?' came a voice from behind him. He started and turned around and found himself met by a pair of stormy blue eyes and a red-and-blue baseball cap. His classmate, Tyson Kinomiya.

"I guess," he said with a shrug. Tyson laughed.

"Don't let him get to you, he's actually not that bad," he said cheerfully, "Bit of a loner and a high-fidelity grump at times, but he's really a good guy."

"You two are friends?" Tala asked in surprise. Out of all the people in the school, Hiwatari and Kinomiya were the last two he would expect to be associates (well, last after Bryan and Kenny). They just seemed so _different_. And at this school, an unofficial rule seemed to be 'all 'groups' must consist of people of similar personalities (and, preferably, similar appearances)'. You know, for 'social status' purposes. Can't have the low and worthless contaminating the high and mighty. Tala had always thought it stupid, just feeling lucky that he and his friends did all seem to be more or less alike and therefore wouldn't cause public outrage. But Kai, in the 'Tyson circle'? It seemed bizarre.

"Yeah, pretty much," the navy-haired boy answered brightly as they started to head back towards the changing rooms, "When he started here we all thought he'd end up hanging out with you and your friends for sure cos, believe it or not, man, he's quite a lot like you guys. But after a few weeks he didn't seem to be making any friends, so we called him over at lunch. To be blunt, his people skills _suck_ but we eventually got him talking. Well, sort of. Kind of. Ok, not really. We're still working on it. Either way, it's all good. Chief's kinda scared of him…but, then again, Chief's scared of just about everything."

He stopped talking for a moment to laugh. It never ceased to amaze Tala how Tyson's mouth, once opened, took off like a runaway train. He wondered if the boy would even notice if he walked away.

"What do you mean he's like us?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, that. Well, y'know, he's got that same kind of 'touch me and die' look about him."

"That's just Bryan, not all of us," Tala said, eyebrows raised.

"Oh yeah, sorry dude," Tyson said, looking half-relieved, half-amazed that he hadn't taken offence from the comment, "But y'know what I mean, he just looks like he'd fit in better in your group. He likes soccer, too."

"Really?" he said, remembering the conversation they had had about the sport earlier.

"Yeah, I think so anyway…one of the times we actually did get him to talk he said something about soccer…then when he noticed we were interested he immediately shut up again and just glared at us. Seriously, he's pretty impossible. Still, he's fun to have around. He annoys the teachers so much. I think together, me and him could make them take nervous breakdowns."

"Well good luck with that."

"Heh, see you later, dude."

That being said, they each returned to their respective 'groups'. Talking to someone from another group for too long was considered improper.

Tala felt that he had never noticed the school's almost scary 'social class' system so much before today.

* * *

_**End of chapter 4.**_

_**Thank you's:**_

_**Nubia: Yay, I love making Tala cute! (Although I'm sure it's illegal in some way.) I just have this image in my head of him standing there with big chibi eyes and a question mark above his head, like he's lost. (Laugh) Thanks for your nice review!**_

_**Rise From Thy Ashes: LMAO, yes, so true. Only bad things come from assuming. Haha, wouldn't it be funny if the diary writer actually turned out to be Tala and he had just forgotten about writing it! XD I think people would KILL ME if I ended the story like that. Anyhoo, thanks for reviewing, hope you like this chapter.**_

_**Aperira: Wow…just so you know, I may have to take you up on that offer (laugh)Fear not, it's not for this story. My other two. The writer's block is killing them slowly. Thanks for reviewing and being so nice! **_

_**Thanks to everyone else who reviewed too! I'd write all your names but I don't have time just now! Extremely sorry!**_

_**Please review and tell me what you think!**_

_**Over and out!**_

_**Fiver**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hey everybody! I thought that maybe I should FINALLY upload chapter five! So if you were waiting for it…here it is! (As you can probably tell…Fiver is HYPER right now.)**_

**_Oh, and to any Seeing Miniature fans out there…the next chapter is in-progress, I assure you. I know I'm a pathetically slow updater, but it's almost done, I swear. It will appear one of these days. (Someday…)_**

_**As for Dreams Down Memory Lane…well, you might have a longer wait for that. But not so many people are waiting for that, right? Right? **_

_**Ok, the shameless advertising paragraphs are over. Back to this story.**_

_**Thanks so much for all your reviews for chapter four! You people are sehr wunderbar. If I knew you, I would give you all a shiny penny each. (Yay, shiny!)**_

_**Thanks (and proverbial shiny pennies) go out to:**_

**_Cookeh: Yass, go dodgeball! It's so violent, yet it is permitted in most schools! It makes no sense! I love it! And thanks for telling me it wasn't predictable, even if it was a fib, cos I just hated that part of the story…(but I had to get them together somehow, didn't I?) Thanks for reviewing!_**

_**whyamidoingthis01: Gold star, wooooo! –Pins to t-shirt- Agh, everyone reviews asking who wrote the diary! What would you do if I actually told you? lol. Fear not, you'll find out sooner or later! Haha, I can just imagine that scenario though…**_

_**Bryan: I must confess…the diary is mine**_

_**Tala: WHAT? IT WAS YOURS ALL ALONG? WHAT WAS THE POINT IN THIS STORY?**_

_**LOL! Thanks for your review!**_

**_DaCow Takao: Uh…I think a pound is worth more than a dollar…but I don't know the exact amount…so I'll just stick to my own currency :P Yay, go Kai and Tala! Beyblade would be, like, nothing without them (no offence, other-character people). I know, every day at the DemBoys lunch table, they must think 'There is a void here…someone is missing…' Maybe one day Kai will join them. Stranger things have happened (laugh). Ok, thanks for reviewing!_**

_**Thanks to EVERYONE else too! I seriously love all you people! (Ok, that sounded stalkerish…)**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**I Found Your Diary**_

_**Chapter 5**_

It started to rain as they walked home.

Bryan was still glowering over his humiliating dodge-ball defeat.

"I'm telling you, that Kenny kid couldn't hit water if he fell out a boat," he growled, "And if there was a needle in a haystack he'd be the one to sit on it."

"Can you stop using so many metaphors? You're confusing me," Ian said, earning himself a dark glare.

"For the mentally impaired among us…" the lilac-haired teen continued, shooting a glance at Ian, "I _mean _that he cannot throw a ball or dodge a ball to save his life."

"Or your life for that matter," Ian pointed out smugly.

"I still think it was pretty unfair of the coach to split us up," Tala said, intervening before an argument ensued.

"Yeah," Bryan said with a 'hmph', crossing his arms, "Just because we're the best."

"No, he split you up because you are both sadistic super-humans who kill without conscience," Ian said.

"It gives you a rather unfair advantage…" Spencer agreed.

"And also you like to toy with lesser opponents," Ian added, "You torture them and keep them panicky until their nerves are so frayed they're on the verge of mental breakdown, then you make them suffer slowly and agonizingly both physically and psychologically before finally taking a little mercy and putting them out of their misery. I need not remind you of the paintball incident."

Both Tala and Bryan smiled slightly, as if recalling a happy memory.

When they reached his house, Tala said goodbye and made as if to go inside. However, in reality he waited on the doorstep until his friends had turned the corner, and then he started to walk back in the direction they had just come. He didn't feel like going home right now. Often, inside the house, he felt stifled, as if the weight of his parents' high expectations and powerful influences was crushing him slowly. He lived in fear of not being good enough for them. He had a strong suspicion that they would dump him on a highway somewhere if that turned out to be the case.

He never spoke to anyone about this feeling, of course. His friends had their own problems. They didn't want to be burdened with his too. Sure, stuff like the diary happened, and they claimed he went 'spacey', but that wasn't a real _problem. _They could always look back at occurrences like that and laugh eventually. This was different. It was his one real personal issue, these feelings of inferiority. So he never let them show. It amused him how no one even had the remotest suspicion of their existence. It was a good thing he hadn't picked drama as a subject. He sure as hell didn't need it.

Despite the rapidly increasing rainfall, he let his feet carry him to the nearby park. He regularly came here to practice soccer, but not today. Today he'd just wander. And think.

Thinking turned out to be a relatively good idea, because as he passed the duck-pond a rather important thought occurred to him. He stopped in his tracks.

"Aw, CRAP!" he cried out louder than he had intended, startling the nearby ducks into flight and scaring two small children.

He had just realized he was back to square one with the diary thing.

The author was a drifter.

Therefore they couldn't be Hiwatari, because he wasn't a drifter.

He was part of Kinomiya's group, right?

Dang nabbit all.

"But Kinomiya said they only started talking to him after a few _weeks_," he mumbled to console himself as he continued walking, "I've only read the first few entries…it could still be him…"

Any last scrap of hope he had still been holding onto was quickly evaporating. The diary author seemed to have some sort of loathing of friendship in any way shape or form. It seemed unlikely that someone so adamant in their beliefs would change in just a few weeks.

_Damnit!_

"Back to the old drawing board…" he sighed. Yes, he liked a challenge. But part of every challenge was solving it as speedily as possible. He became frustrated with any one thing quickly. Never bored, but frustrated. As time went on he ended up cutting meals, sleeping less, neglecting homework, forgetting to study…so, yeah, it was rather vital that he didn't have to spend too long obsessed by something.

Maybe he was in over his head this time.

…

Nah.

As the rain started to fall in sheets from the sky, he took refuge under a large tree, sitting on the dry ground at its base. Rummaging in his schoolbag, he pulled out the diary and busied himself with reading.

The next entry was dated quite a few days after the previous one, suggesting that the author had been blatantly rebelling against the wishes of his (or her) guidance teacher.

_21st April_

_Shit-damn, I thought I was done with this thing. Darling Guidey didn't mention it for a while, so I figured she'd forgotten about it. (Well, she is old enough to be going senile.) But no, today she asked to see what I had written since the last time we had discussed it. (Or, to be more precise, since the last time she talked about it whilst I just sat and refused to co-operate or even acknowledge her existence.) Turns out she had been expecting me to continue filling it in of my own accord. My thoughts at that particular moment in time were something along the lines of 'Oh God, her last brain cell has fizzled out and died.' Why would I write something as stupid as a diary _willingly? _If I am not forced under pain of death (or suspension) to do so, the odds are that I won't even look at the damn thing! Accept that reality you stupid old bat! And straighten your wig, I can see your shiny head! _

_So here I am again. Whilst I could be doing other, more entertaining things (can't think of any off the top of my head but I'm sure they're out there) I am sitting writing my latest heartfelt entry. Bah, humbug. _

_Like I've said so many times before, there's flip all for me to write about. School is not worthy of being recorded. It is not even worthy of being considered being recorded. The course of a day goes something like: Go to homeroom, sit, go to physics, SLEEP, go to English, restrain from incapacitating the teacher, go to chemistry, SLEEP, go to drama, call people ferrets, intermission here as I wander around vacantly at lunchtime, then go to history, another good sleep and finally maths. If I can be bothered. (Actually, a lot of that is a lie. I don't sleep. I never sleep. I am something of an insomniac. I don't feel safe asleep. Shit, that makes no sense.) _

_Moving on… _

_Two pages…two pages…TWO PAGES. Why did it have to be two pages? _

_Alright, let's write more personal crap. About me. Because I am so interesting to write about. Whoops I think my sarcasm has burnt a hole in the page._

_Let's think…ok, scraping the bottom of the barrel here: stuff that I like. I'm sure you've heard enough about all the things I hate._

_What do I like? (You'd think that I would know but…no.) _

_Loud music. Yeah, go loud music. I like to turn the music up so loud that the whole room vibrates and then just lie on the bed and shut my eyes, and then there's NOTHING in the world except music. Not even crap like guidance teachers and this diary matters. You should try it. It just fills your head and makes you forget about everything else. Probably incredibly bad for your eardrums but we all have to make little sacrifices. _

_And like I already said, I like writing. Just not writing diaries. I-_

His concentration was cut off as something rolled along the grass to stop next to him. Looking down dubiously, he saw it was a soccer ball. Its appearance was shortly followed by a voice.

"Sorry, that's…"

He looked up to see a rather familiar face approaching.

"…not mine," Kai finished when he saw who he had almost hit with the offending ball.

Holy Gawd, what _was _Fate planning for him!

His dodge ball partner was, like himself, still wearing his school-clothes, suggesting that he hadn't been home yet either, except perhaps to pick up the soccer ball. The rain appeared to be penetrating said garments fairly quickly, and his slate-coloured hair hung more around his face in the wet. The blue triangles, however, did not appear to be affected by the water. How typical.

"Busted, huh?" Tala said in slight amusement.

"Guess so," he said dully, retrieving the runaway soccer ball.

"If you play soccer, why didn't you just say so?"

The dual-haired boy shrugged moodily.

"Don't talk much, do you?"

Another shrug.

"Why are you out here in the rain?"

"Couldn't I ask you the same question?" Kai said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh…I just didn't feel like going home just yet," he said uncomfortably, hoping he wouldn't be questioned why.

"Same," the other said with a nod.

As it happened, neither of them asked why the other felt that way. There seemed to be a mutual understanding between them: don't ask me, I won't ask you.

"You should sit down," Tala said at length, "You're making me nervous standing there."

"How do you know I'm not just going to walk away?" Kai demanded.

"…Are you?"

After a moment of indecisiveness, Kai resigned himself to joining the red-head under the relative protection of the large tree.

"So are you going to join the junior team?" Tala asked as the other sat down reluctantly.

"I don't think so," he replied, plucking a long blade of grass and chewing on the end of it in a bored manner.

"Why? Are you no good?"

Kai scowled.

"One day when it's not pissing with rain I'll prove you sorely wrong in that respect," he said flatly. Tala smirked.

"Care to set a date for that trial?" he asked.

"I told you, I'm not joining your-"

"Any time next week is fine. If you're desperate I could probably squeeze it in sometime this week."

"Does _everyone_ at this school hear the opposite of what I say when I talk?" he said in apparent annoyance, letting his head fall forward in a gesture of weariness.

"Hm…I was just messing with you. Who's like that for real?"

"Kinomiya," he said listlessly, "He wonders why I don't speak to him much. 'Hey, new kid, want to sit with us?' 'No.' 'Ok, grab a chair!'"

As he silently recalled his other encounters with the somewhat clueless freshman, Kai gave a groan of extreme exasperation and annoyance, looking as though he was having to refrain from punching the nearby tree trunk until his knuckles bled.

"Yeah, Tyson's like that, I guess…" Tala said with a shrug.

"He is one irritating kid."

"It's called being friendly. Maybe you should try it sometime."

Kai simply shot him a look, which he returned with a slight smirk.

"Messing with you," he said again, waving a finger, "So you and Tyson don't get along as well as he led me to believe?"

"Obviously not," he replied, "He seems to be going around telling everyone that we're friends. Don't I have a say in this? What the hell do I need with friends?"

Tala blinked.

"You don't _want _friends?" he questioned uncertainly.

"Not really," the other said, focusing all his attention on his blade of grass, "I get along fine on my own."

"That…must get pretty lonely," Tala said distantly, looking up at the leaves above his head. Some of his classmates thought that he was cold-hearted and unapproachable, and it was true that he disliked large crowds and too much company, but the thought of being completely alone all the time…it wasn't a thought that held much appeal.

How could a person be happy, living like that?

But…wait.

A dislike of friendship?

Well, that brought him back to something rather important.

He glanced down at his bag. The diary was half sticking out, left where he had put it upon Kai's appearance.

"Kai…" he started hesitantly, "Have you…lost something lately?"

The reaction he got was, at the very least, surprising.

The other boy's eyes flashed angrily, and his face morphed into a dark glare that made his previous glowers seem almost comical.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" he hissed, fury emanating from every pore.

"Um, no…" he said falling back slightly, suitably bewildered.

"Good, because it wasn't funny," he said darkly, eyes narrowed. His hands curled into tight fists and Tala felt a sneaking suspicion that if he didn't clear things up quickly there would be a few black eyes dealt out today.

"Look, I'm sorry if I offended you," he said, throwing up his hands, "It wasn't my intention. I don't think we're thinking about the same thing."

Seeming to decide that the look of confusion on the red-head's face was genuine, Kai relaxed somewhat, expression returning to sullen normality.

"Then what are you thinking about?" he asked, still on guard.

"This," he said, pulling the diary out of his bag, "I found it the other day in the hall. Just wondered if maybe it was yours."

He held it out. Kai stared blankly first at him, then at the notebook.

"No," he said, a frown of perplexity creasing his forehead, "Why would you think it was mine?"

Yeah, back to square one we go.

* * *

**_Haha, all you people who thought it was Kai! Betcha didn't see THAT coming!_**

**_Ooh...I couldn't WAIT to spring that line on everyone...muahaha..._**

**_Kai: Calm down, for the love of God._**

**_Tala: Yeah, I knew all along that it wasn't him!_**

**_Kai and Fiver: ¬¬_**

**_Tala: What?_**

**_Hehehe...well, please read and review!_**

**_Till next time!_**

**_Fiver_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Hello again my fellow fans of Japanese animation..._**

**_Wow, I think it's been a while...exams, writer's block, all that jazz. But I'm here now, with chapter 6!!! Unfortunately...this is what is known in the technical world as a 'bridge chapter', in which not much happens but it is necessary so that characters do not appear incredibly out of character in later chapters. Or something. Either way it's not so great. But...I think it is slightly longer than previous chapters to make up for such a long wait. So...yeah, a rather long not-so-great chapter. Hope you guys like it... (And fear not...chapter 7 shall be an improvement!)_**

**_Thanks go out to:_**

**_Corin, DaCow Takao, Aperira, whyamidoingthis01, My smile hides the pain, As Silent As The Shadows, Deidara lover48, hunt4me, lilhazelnutta, Celtic Warrior (LOL, awesome review), Sam, Kimkizna, cookieZ, Lazy But Smart, Nubia, not the usual baka, Winterblazewolf, Cookeh (I'm a procrastinator and proud!), The Great Hippo Theif, Liger Zero Nightmare, If I say I love you, Kairi, Musee.Picasso, hurtinphoenix, tacks, Darksouled Saiyanphoenix, EmZb123, vines-throughXfate, nejiluva987, YuriyTalaIvanov, Rockhard angel and Slightly Sinister Sinestra. You are all so wonderful!!! (Distributes plushie-Talas)_**

**_Normally I would respond to at least some reviews but...I'm frightened that I'll end up giving something away! It's terrible writing a mystery like this! Everyone's on my case! XD But I love ya. _**

**_Oh yes...I will say this again. And everybody listen this time. Ahem. The diary author is NOT an OC. People are still asking that, so I guess ya missed the last note on the subject ;P No worries. But yeah, no OCs. _**

... **_(Looks at piece of paper) And moving on to the next item on the agenda..._**

_**Quite a few people have been asking me 'Is this going to be yaoi?' **_

_**Well…all I can really say is que sera sera. What will happen will, what won't happen won't. I only have the basic plot planned out. If, as I'm typing it, pairings start to come forward, then they'll be there. If it seems like things are going naturally in the romance direction, regardless of who is involved, then maybe there will be a pairing, yaoi or otherwise. I'm not promising anything either way. You'll just have to wait and see :P And even if there is a pairing**__**, there'll be nothing too extreme 'cos...well, basically, the whole point of the story isn't romance, it's the diary, so I wouldn't want any pairing to steal the limelight away from our beloved diary. Ok, everyone happy now? ;D**_

**_(Gasp for breath) Well, if anyone just read all that, I offer you my congratulations. Hope you all like the new chapter._**

_**I Found Your Diary**_

_**Chapter 6**_

Tala let out a groan of defeat and let his head fall onto his knees. In the meantime Kai accepted the thick notebook in his hands and began leafing through it idly, but not looking at any one page long enough to actually read anything.

"A diary?" he said, looking even more puzzled than before, "I didn't know I came across as the sensitive type."

"No, it's not that…" Tala mumbled, "It's just…you see…"

There was a pause.

"You read it, didn't you?" Kai said at length in a rather disapproving voice.

"Yes. Yes I did," he said flatly, "Well, I'm in the midst of reading it. I still have quite a lot to go."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought that a diary was something rather…personal."

"I know, but…it's a long story."

"It's not like we don't have time."

He considered.

"Alright," he said with a shrug, "I found it in the hall the other day, on the floor. I figured someone must have dropped it so I picked it up, planning to hand it in later. Then…well, I was in physics…and I was _really _bored so…stuff happened."

"You ended up reading some poor vulnerable soul's diary," Kai finished for him, "That wasn't really a very long story. You lied."

There was something about the plaintive way in which the other boy spoke that really made Tala want to laugh.

"Yeah, I guess I did," he said, unable to fully keep the amusement out of his voice. The other obviously noticed this because he shot him a sharp look, as if wondering what was so funny.

"If I'd seen someone else's notebook lying on the ground, I would have just left it," Kai said slowly, almost suspiciously, "Why did you take this one?"

"That's a weird question to ask," Tala said dubiously.

"You could still answer it," he said coldly, "So, what, do you like prying in other people's things? Are you a pathetic do-gooder? Or are you just stupid?"

Despite there being absolutely no humour in these last questions, Tala found he just had to laugh. There was just something funny about this kid, about the way he questioned everything with unflinching bluntness and complete and utter distrust.

"You seem very suspicious of the world around you," he said, ignoring the glare his laugh had earned him, "I don't know, I guess I just felt like picking it up. It was a strange moment, y'know? It caught my attention. Maybe I was _supposed _to find it."

"Yeah, I think you're one of the stupid ones," Kai said, nodding slightly as if to confirm this point to himself.

"And I think you're one of the exceptionally shrewd, distrustful, unfeeling ones, but I don't say anything about it," he replied, but with a small smile, not bitterness. Kai looked taken aback for a moment before shrugging and shifting his somewhat intense gaze to the sky. Tala could easily imagine other people quaking beneath that stare. Himself…well, people quaked beneath his look too if he was pissed off. He supposed it was hard to be intimidated by something you possessed yourself.

"But when I started reading it…" he said, "Whoever the writer is…they write some pretty funny stuff. I don't know how to describe it, it's as if they just hate _everything _around them and look at the world through this wall of cynicism," here he put his hands up like a mime creating the effect of a glass barrier, as if also looking through the 'wall', "It's actually kind of worrying but at the same time you just have to laugh at it. You think 'I want to meet this person. I want to talk to them face to face, just to see if they are _really _like this'."

"So basically you just had a good old chuckle at it?" Kai asked flatly.

"Well…no," he said thoughtfully, "Underneath it all, I think they sound kind of…sad. Lonely, almost. They talk like they think friendship is pointless and a bad thing – kind of like you, that's sort of why I figured it was yours – but I get this feeling like they've never really _had_ friends and…I'm not making any sense, am I?"

He gave another quiet laugh.

"Not really," Kai agreed, "So now you're on some inane quest to find out who this writer is and become their best buddy? How stupid."

"You just like calling me stupid, don't you? That's not my intention, exactly," he said, "First and fore mostly I just like a challenge. I'm not the most sentimental person in the world – it's really only now that I'm actually starting to think of the writer as a person and not just a solution to a problem. And I don't know if I really have the right to march up to them and say 'I have read your diary and decided we should be friends'. I think that _would _be stupid. I think…maybe…what I'd want to say is more like 'I found your diary. And I'm sorry, but I read it. And I think you're being too hard on yourself and the people around you. Cut yourself a little slack and you might have some fun. But that's just my opinion. So if you ever decide you don't like being alone, you know where to find me.'"

Kai stared at him for a moment.

"Kind of a corny speech, don't you think?" he said finally.

Tala snorted with laughter again.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted, "Ok, 'I found your diary'. That's all I want to say to them. I just want to be able to walk up to them and say 'I found your diary.'"

"And then you realize you're talking to the wrong person," Kai said, a smirk playing on his features.

"Well, that's the worst case scenario."

Kai shook his head.

"You really are hopeless…" he said, momentarily shutting his crimson eyes in quiet reflection, "I don't think you'll ever solve this one on your own."

"Am I supposed to take that as an insult?" he questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"Hn…I was thinking more along the lines of a proposal."

He blinked.

"What?" he asked at length. His overly-subtle companion sighed exasperatedly.

"I said you'd never solve it _on your own_," he said, "As in, you could use some _help._"

There was a pause.

"You…want to help me with this?" Tala said uncertainly.

"You're slow."

"But…why?"

The other smirked.

"I like a challenge," he said simply, imitating Tala's earlier comment.

Tala suddenly realized that he rather liked this odd little person.

"Well, alright," he said, pretending to look thoughtful, "Just as long as you don't slow me down."

The smirk was swiftly replaced by a scowl.

"Trust me," the dual-haired boy said, "That won't be an issue."

Tala allowed himself to give a small smile.

"Good," he said.

* * *

Tala pushed open the front door to his house and stepped inside. 

Kai followed, somewhat reluctantly.

Since their unusual partnership had been formed, there had seemed like no time like the present to put it into action.

But it had started to feel rather cold out of doors, so they had decided to move elsewhere.

Which was why they were currently standing in his hallway.

The rain had abated to some extent, so they had only gotten slightly damp during their walk here. Tala slipped out of his wet shoes and left them on the floor beneath the coat-hooks. Kai followed his example but pushed his well-worn black Converse as far into the corner as they would go, as if trying to conceal them from sight.

Tala didn't ask why.

Maybe he should have, but he didn't.

"Don't get the wrong idea, by the way," Kai said absently as they mounted the stairs, "The diary thing just caught my interest. Don't think anything is going to come out of this."

"Of course not," he replied, perhaps a little too amiably.

"I'll probably lose all curiosity about it before the week's out."

"Alright."

Once again he was aware that his voice was too blasé, too offhand, and he was agreeing too easily. Kai had expected an argument, a rebuke, _something. _And he knew that the fact that he had given neither told the crimson-eyed boy that he hadn't believed a word he had said.

He entered his room, shutting the door firmly once they were both inside. There was something about the act of closing the door that made him feel safer…like he was cut off from the distasteful outside world in his own personalized box. Dotted around the rest of the house were various reminders of his parents' overbearing presence: post-it notes on the fridge reminding him to study, eat, _breathe_, as if he didn't have a mind of his own, locks on certain cupboards just so he knew that he held no authority here, a piece of paper taped to the wall with emergency numbers on it, again to remind him that he wasn't competent enough to think for himself.

But not in here. He was 'safe' here.

He could see Kai's eyes skimming across the room, absorbing everything. He wondered what conclusions that sharp mind was coming to, how much the other boy was learning about him just by the contents of his room. He tried to observe his surroundings through a stranger's eyes, to see how his sanctuary appeared to another.

Pretty average, really. Pale blue walls, dark blue carpet. Bed in faraway left-hand corner, plain white duvet cover. The odd poster here and there, computer desk in the corner - harbouring his beloved laptop - chest of drawers, wardrobe…and, of course, his calendar and planner, also lying on the desk.

"You keep a diary too?" Kai questioned when he noticed it, "No wonder you feel so in-tune with our mystery author."

"It's not the same kind of diary," he laughed, picking it up and leafing through, "It's all just reminders, things I have to do. I normally take it to school. Forgot today."

"You're so forgetful you forget to pick up your reminders?" Kai said, shaking his head, "Worrying."

"I'm not _forgetful,_" he protested, allowing the other boy to look through the notebook, "My head's just full of so much stuff, less important stuff gets kicked out…"

"I get the distinct feeling that your idea of 'important' and mine are somewhat different…" he said as a scribbled note caught his eye, "How can you consider 'get up and go to school' to be unimportant?"

"Oh that's good, coming from the kid who plays hooky," he replied in amusement.

"I saw that coming," Kai said in defeat, handing the notebook back to him.

"Why do you skip school anyway?" he asked off-handily, "What's the point?"

"What's the point of going to school?" he countered.

"Well…that's different for every person, isn't it?" he said, "I don't know, maybe there is no point. It's just what we do. But, I mean, you know you're going to get caught sooner or later so…why go to the bother?"

"I don't care if they catch me," Kai said stonily, "They can't do anything to me, except yelling at me or making me write out 'I must be a good boy and not skip school' until they think I actually believe it."

"Yeah, but…come on, you know what I mean. _Why _do you do it?"

"Because…" he said, staring stubbornly at his feet, "No one notices whether I do or don't."

He thought for what seemed like a very long time over what this meant.

"Has anyone ever told you you're impossible, Hiwatari?" he asked at length, giving up.

"Yes," was the frank reply. Tala shook his head in semi-bewilderment that someone could actually be this difficult.

They pored over the diary for quite some time, and Kai proved without a doubt that a fresh eye really can see what others have missed. Or maybe he just proved that he was unnaturally sharp-eyed and insanely intuitive and probably should have been working for NASA or something.

After a few hours, during which they reached a few stead-fast conclusions that would have taken Tala quite some time to work out alone, they heard the front door open.

"That'll be the 'rents…" he said in response to Kai's questioning look.

"Oh," the other boy said, getting to his feet, "I should go."

"Huh. Wha…? Hey, wait a sec…!" he called (since Kai was already half-way out the door), "Calm down, jeez. Bryan and the others appear around here all the time, my parents don't care. They just ask how many are here so they know how much food to make. You can stick around."

"No, I need to go," he said, not turning around, "See you at school."

And then he was gone. Tala heard him make his hasty escape out the front door.

Kind of…jumpy, wasn't he?

Heh, not that it really mattered. He was smart, that was what counted.

Shrugging, he went back to reading the entry that had been previously interrupted by the slate-haired boy's appearance earlier that day.

…_And like I already said, I like writing. Just not writing diaries. I will willingly sit with a notebook and pen and write whatever comes into my head, but if you shove a piece of paper/jotter/notebook in front of me and tell me what to write, the chances are that you're going to get a piece of work that is the complete opposite of what you asked for and I will sit and laugh at you as you go insane trying to work out why I wrote it. I guess I just hate being told what to do. Needless to say this doesn't go down too well with my English teachers. You know, they ask for a five-page essay on how many times Shakespeare uses the implied term 'oh my God, they're dead' in Hamlet and in the end they get two or three sporadic lines on how Shakespeare didn't even know how to write and so couldn't have written Hamlet in the first place. I drive them to despair. And I have no regrets. _

_At least school will be marginally less agonizingly tedious tomorrow. Double period of art in the morning. Art's ok. (But I drive my teachers to despair there as well. I don't draw what I'm asked to draw. I must make other people's lives astoundingly painful. I wonder if I've ever made a teacher consider hanging themselves? Maybe I should try it. On Guidey, of course.)_

_Finally, two pages. Now I can go and…I don't know, do something intellectual. Or listen to blaring music. Anything's better than this. Getting my head stuck between two fence posts and having to wait three hours amongst a huge crowd of onlookers for the fire brigade to arrive and cut me out would be better than this. _

Tala shook his head and closed the weighty notebook. He was becoming unnaturally attached to this little cynic. And he had a feeling that if he didn't find out who they were soon, he'd go crazy.

* * *

_**End chapter. Ugh, not one of my better chapters.**_

_**So…will Tala and Kai ever solve the mystery of the diary? Find out next time! (Well…probably more like the time after the time after the time after next time. Or something.)**_

**_Anyway..._**

**_Please review!_**

**_Until next time..._**

**_Fiver_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good Christmas. Fiver is back now, and here is chapter 7…**_

_**Thank you's and replies: **_

_**Rin-ren-ran: lol, well I hope I'm not torturing anyone too badly…Ok, here I am, updating. Soon enough for ya? XP Hope you like it. Thanks for reviewing. **_

**_Whyamidoingthis01: aww! (Hugs) That is so sad! T-T My family are kind of the opposite…I leave the house for two seconds and it's all 'OMG WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? NOOOOO, YOU'RE BECOMING A DELINQUENT, AREN'T YOU?' Scary…there must be a comfortable middle-ground somewhere. We shall strive to find it. (High five) Haha, well if you're like Kai, then I'm like Tala. (As in, scared NOT to get straight A's because of everyone's high expectations!) I'm glad my writing means something to someone…thank you for that. This chapter is sort of a bridge too, so I hope you like it. Thanks for reading and reviewing. _**

**_Cookeh: (gasp) Happy birthday!! (gives cake) Here's another chapter for you. Hope it makes you happy. And OMG, I nearly died laughing at that review. You know, it was all 'there's only one logical explanation…' and I was thinking 'great, here's some smart-ass trying to analyse my writing' Then I reached 'He's on crack' and I just stared for a minute before bursting into laughter which didn't stop for quite some time…ah, that was good. Yes, well done. And sorry for missing a comma. But I can't be bothered going back and changing it right now, lol. Ok, thanks for reviewing._**

**_Slightly Sinister Sinestra: I hate those days…you wake up and think it's the weekend, then your alarm goes off and it's like 'DAMNIT!!!' Lol. I wouldn't call my stuff awesome, but thanks. And thanks for reviewing. _**

**_Musee.Picasso: Well…not to be rude, but if it does end up being yaoi and you stop reading just because of that then that's up to you. I'm never going to be able to please everyone – half the readers are asking for a pairing, others are forbidding it - so no matter what I write, some people will probably stop reading. There's nothing I can do about that. Like I said before, even if there is a pairing there won't be anything major (I'm not really into smut) so it would be easy enough to ignore…But whatever, I won't try to justify it. If it's something you don't agree with, then yeah, ok. Just seems a shame. Hope you like this chapter, thanks for reviewing._**

_**Mina the Mischievous: gawsh, does no one read my author notes? I've said a few times that the diary author is NOT an OC. Because that would be no fun at all. Okies? So that should narrow it down significantly for you, lol. Hope you like this chapter. Thanks for reviewing. **_

**_ColdBlackRaven: Haha, yeah I always notice that a lot of people like to romanticise Kai's personality. Like 'Well, he's mean at the start but he's actually a really nice, sensitive guy and that will come through by chapter 3. He's just misunderstood, honest!' I'll admit I write like that sometimes, but in this story I was like 'Nah, screw it.' Let's face it, he's a jerk! Misunderstood or not, he's still a bit of a butt-head! That's why we love him! So…yeah, lol. And the diary entry in chapter 6 is the continuation of the one Tala was reading back in chapter 5, so it was the same date…lol. Ok, hope you like this chapter. Thanks for your review._**

_**Also thanks to FreakingRainbow, grEMLin eVil, Nameless Little Girl, Demon TK, vines-throughXfate, Nemo Sushi, Cybanne-chan, Jashomara, The Great Hippo Thief, hunt4me, Winterblazewolf, Darksouled Saiyanphoenix, My smile hides my pain, Celtic Warrior, Corin, lilhazelnutta and EmZb123. You're all awesome. Your reviews make my day. I really hope you like this chapter. **_

**_Oh boy, the dilemma. To pair, or not to pair? You readers seem to be waging war over this…is it such a big deal? Let's just concentrate on the diary, ne? XD_**

_**Ok, here we go. Enjoy. (By the way, this chapter basically centres around the blue gel pen entry. Incidentally, this chapter would never have existed if so many people hadn't picked up on that tiny detail XD) **_

_**Chapter 7**_

Maths. One of Tala's better subjects, but not exactly one of his favourites.

While the teacher enthusiastically explained the ins and outs of advanced trigonometry, the red-head had his nose stuck in the diary (the thing seemed to be fast becoming an obsession) which was oh-so-cunningly concealed within his textbook. He was struggling to read this particular entry, partially because the author's handwriting appeared to have been having a somewhat dramatic off-day, but mostly because it was written in sparkly pale-blue gel pen. It had been smudged in a few places where a hand had evidently brushed across still-wet ink, and the general colour made every word very difficult to make out. Squinting his eyes slightly, he tried to make sense of the mesh of criss-crossing cerulean lines splayed across the page.

_22nd April _

_It seems like this school is going to be no different from the last one. I stupidly made the assumption that I had succeeded in going virtually unnoticed here, and so thought that no one would bother me. But no, today some smart-ass decided it would be a great laugh to steal my schoolbag. I mean, seriously. Talk about being easily amused. I was getting stuff out of my locker for the morning, when they just ran by and snatched it. No idea why they chose me. I don't even know them. It was a guy, but I don't even know his name, or recognize him from anywhere. I've certainly never spoken to him. So why me?_

_Shit, starting to self-pity now. Back to the story._

_I've definitely changed lately, and I'm not sure if it's for the better. Before, I would have chased that guy down like a hound of hell and taught him in the simplest way possible that you DO NOT mess with me. (Meaning, of course, cause extreme pain and spill as much blood as is possible without actually killing him. It's like what you do when training animals: a little bit of pain and they know not to go there again.) But somehow…today I just couldn't. Not that I'm going soft or anything, it's just…I didn't have the energy or something. Like, I saw him take my bag and run off with it. And I knew that I should have felt angry. But I didn't. Just sort of indifferent. Like, it didn't matter anyway. And I didn't really care. Eventually I sort of wandered off in the general direction he had went and found my bag dumped at the side of a corridor. My wallet and my pencil-case were gone. I just picked it up and walked right out of the school. I don't know why, just like I don't know why I didn't beat the bastard to a pulp. And now I'm sitting on a bench in the park, writing in this thing. Before I left the school I found this pen on the floor. And because I have nothing else, courtesy of our gangsta friend, I have to write with it. How degrading. _

_It's weird, isn't it? I spend so much time complaining about having to write in this thing, and yet here I am, in my (self-asserted) leisure time, filling in more pathetic drivel._

_Sometimes I really wish I was dead then I think that's stupid because I don't know what it's like to be dead so how the hell can I want it? Death could be worse than this, or it could be nothing, or it could be just the same…_

_I'm not making any sense, am I? And I can't help but find it laughable that I'm writing such morbid thoughts in glittery blue ink._

_I hate to admit it, but when that jackass took my bag the first real thought that entered my head (after several moments of inexplicable passive indifference) was that he might find this and read it. (But, thinking back, I doubt he could actually read anything.)_

_Enough of that, enough of that…I wish I could stop talking (or writing, as it were) all high-and-mighty and grown-up. It's so pointless because I know I'm not like that. Whether I like it or not, I'm still just a stupid kid, probably even more so than most people my age (that age being fifteen, almost sixteen). If I was grown-up and mature I wouldn't make such a big deal about having to write in here. I'd just get on with it and write what I'm supposed to. If I was grown-up and mature I wouldn't kick up a fuss about having to write with a glitter pen. What, do I think I'm above that or something? And if I was grown-up and mature I wouldn't mope around so much because I feel my existence isn't acknowledged enough. That last one makes the least sense. I want to talk to someone, and deliberately do stupid, 'rebellious' things just for attention, but I act like I want to be left alone. And at the same time I go out of my way to be invisible, and yet I complain when certain people look right through me. _

_Ok, not certain people. A certain person._

_Right, getting too personal. Back to the real world._

_I wonder what I'll do now? I mean, I walked out of school more than an hour ago. Someone's bound to have noticed I'm not there (again). I can't exactly just wander in without an excuse. _

_Maybe I'll go engage myself in conversation with the ducks. That wouldn't be so different from school. _

Tala breathed a silent sigh of relief that the near-illegible entry was over.

'_A certain person…' _To him that seemed to suggest that the author was a girl with a crush who didn't notice her. Or maybe he was stereotyping, guys probably had crushes too…or maybe…

He should probably ask Kai. He was good at interpreting things, and had an attention span greater than that of a gnat, unlike himself, meaning that he could focus on one possibility before jumping to another.

Oh…but of course.

Kai wasn't here.

He twisted around in his seat to look in mild annoyance at the empty desk at the back of the class, as if expecting the slate-haired boy to have somehow snuck in without him noticing.

When he had said 'see you in school' he had sort of assumed he had meant the next day. But it was now apparent that he had meant the next time he decided to show up for school.

He blew a loose strand of hair out of his face as he turned back to the front. Maybe the other boy's interest had already waned. He wouldn't put any such change of heart past the unpredictable little character.

'_Damn truant,' _he thought with a small smile, thinking back to P.E.

He looked back to the scrawled entry. It was unusual, in that the writer – normally so sceptical and unflappable – seemed to be flitting from thought to thought in a sort of scatterbrained, sporadic, almost delirious fashion. It was also probably the most emotional entry so far, the most honest, even though the writer tried to finish it up with the same sarky tone he or she usually assumed. And there was more not-funny stuff too; saying they wished they were dead and admitting an open dislike for themselves. He felt a rare surge of pity. Maybe this person _needed _to be found.

After what seemed like five billion eternities (that such a thing was technically impossible never came into Tala's head) the bell signalling break-time trilled merrily through the cube of brain-dead boredom and suppressed energy that was the maths classroom. Everyone started to come out of their zombified state and filed out the door, blinking like people who've just been let out of prison and now aren't quite sure what to do with themselves. Tala eventually located his three friends in the throng and they managed to escape being carried along by the cafeteria-bound masses. They found a quiet corner to stand in and look as though they were doing whatever it is adolescents are expected to do during breaks.

"Solved your mystery yet, Tala?" Ian piped up.

"No," he admitted, "I've enlisted some help, though."

"Help?" Bryan snorted, "Whose intelligence would you have enough faith in to allow them to help you?"

He smirked.

"Just your favourite 'weirdo', Bryan," he replied. The lilac-haired teen cocked an eyebrow.

"The Hiwatari kid?" he questioned, "Didn't see that coming. So I guess the thing doesn't belong to him after all?"

"No," he said, "But he's smart, I think. And he notices things."

"So you press-ganged him into assisting you?" Ian asked with a snigger.

"No," he said for the third time, "It was actually his idea."

"Oh. So then you figured he wasn't helping enough so you killed him and that's why he's not at school today?"

Tala decided he was fed up with saying 'no' and so decided to instead just glare at the shorter boy.

"Ok, ok, kidding! Whoot, someone's PMSing," Ian grumbled, "And just when I went to all the trouble to get you a nice present to help with your obsessive task."

"Is that so?" he said suspiciously.

"Yes," Ian said, producing a piece of paper from his pocket with some amount of aplomb, "Bry told me that you'd reached the conclusion that the mysterious author was a new student, correct?"

"Uh huh…?" he said, still feeling somewhat wary.

"Well, I did some extremely clever and crafty undercover work and managed to get a list of _all _the new students over the past few months," he finished triumphantly, holding the paper out with a self-satisfied sigh, "Yes, fans, I know I'm brilliant. No autographs, please."

"Seriously?" Tala gaped, taking the paper and scanning the lengthy list of names.

"Yes," Ian said, polishing his nails on his jacket, "Feel free to reward me with gifts of chocolate and expensive trinkets."

"…Why are there so many?" Tala said with a frown, noticing that the list went onto the back of the paper too. Ian clutched at his heart in an attempt to look wounded.

"Not even a thank you?" he demanded, "There's so many because a nearby school closed down a little ago because there weren't enough students, so any of the kids who attended _that_ school who are now in the catchments area for _this_ school ended up here."

"You really did investigate, didn't you?" Bryan said, eyebrows raised.

"It was this or chemistry homework," Ian laughed.

"This could really take a while…" Tala was muttering to himself.

"Seriously, you're not even going to thank me?" Ian whined.

"Thanks."

"You didn't mean that!"

"Thank you very much my incomparably intelligent friend."

"That's better! Now shine my shoes!"

"Ian," Bryan said warningly, "You're pushing it."

* * *

During the rest of the morning Tala forced himself to concentrate as much as he could on schoolwork. He knew that if his dazedness kept up he'd end up falling behind and he couldn't let that happen. (Apart from it merely being a matter of pride, he knew that if he got a concern form sent home or something his parents would probably disown him.) 

So, as it was, he did actually pay attention in chemistry and, yes, even physics (although Merry Malden's frighteningly boring drone almost reduced him to a coma).

Therefore, by the time it got to lunchtime, the pent-up need to investigate was so great that he didn't even bother buying anything to eat and instead just plopped into a seat and started looking over the list Ian had provided him with.

"Oh dear, you've stopped eating," Bryan said as he joined him, "I fear I may end up having to burn this diary for the sake of your own health and sanity."

"No, you're just a pyromaniac," Tala replied without looking up.

"What are you doing anyway…?" Ian asked as the red-head attacked the piece of paper with his pen.

"Scoring out the names I don't need."

"_Eh?" _Ian lunged across the table, upending his own bottle of soda, and looked in horror at the vandalised sheet of paper, "You mean all that hard work was for _nothing_?"

Tala chose not to reply, instead continuing to score out unneeded names.

He had gotten rid of all the juniors and seniors, since the diary author was fifteen and therefore had to be a freshman. He had toyed with the idea that he could just be a really young junior, but it seemed unlikely. There wasn't much left of this school year, and it wasn't common for someone to enter their senior year having just turned sixteen. So that had reduced the list considerably, but there were still a lot of possibilities.

He sighed. This meant he'd actually have to _find _all of these people and scrutinize them one by one, and try to work out which one of them it was. But that was easier said than done, the diary author had said that they acted differently in the outside world from the way they were when they were writing…

Gawd, this could really take a while.

He looked back to the list and read over the remaining names.

Brooklyn Kuragi, Miriam Suoh, Emily Manabe, Zeo Zaggart, Julia Fernandez, Raul Fernandez, Kai Hiwatari…

Whoops.

He scored Kai's name off, grumbling at himself for not noticing it earlier.

Even at that, that still left quite a few…

Maybe Kai would know more about them, since they all started at the school around the same time…

He let his head fall onto the table, (much to the bemusement of his three friends) already starting to get the feeling that Kai Hiwatari was the kind of person who was just never there when you needed him most.

* * *

_**End of chapter 7. Wow, I wrote this thing over like three days. (Does it show?) Surprisingly quick for me.**_

**_Ugh, I hate coming up with surnames. I searched to see if anyone on the 'list' had an official surname but I could only find Zeo, Julia and Raul's and I don't even know if those are right…so, yes, I apologize for the fact that the surnames do not suit the character. I take the blame completely._**

_**So how was that? I know not much seems to be happening but…I don't want to take things too quickly. Because that can ruin everything. I will say now that I expect this to be a fifteen-chapter story. There, I've set a benchmark. We'll work towards that, okies? **_

_**Well, let me know what ya'll think, please!**_

_**Until next time…**_

_**Fiver**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Fiver here, reporting for duty. (And about time too!)**_

_**OMG!! Guess wha-at? I was watching a movie and when the credits rolled up there was a person called 'Raul Julia'. Gawsh, if that person has ever seen Beyblade they will be feeling famous.**_

_**Thanks yous: **_

_**Whyamidoingthis01: woah…that was indeed a long review (but aren't those the best type:-3) LOL I can see it now…**_

**_Kai: ok…I'll just go now… (inches out of door totally un-suspiciously)_**

_**Tala: …Kai, are you stealing the diary?**_

_**Kai: …no **_

**_Ooh that would be good…Yeah I kind of know what you mean about the in-or-out-of-character thing. I've said it before: it's what they would be like if there had been no abbey and no Boris and they just went to high school like normal, unfortunate teenagers…haha, yeah I'll tell any flamers that I'll be sending you round… (Kidding on, kidding on.) You're welcome, I guess…well I wouldn't leave a fellow angst-ridden person in distress (hugz) K-A-I… (thinks for very long time) Nope, you're safe, I don't think I'll ever work out what it is. Ok, I shall be Tala. Fear me, for I am spacey. Rawr. And I suddenly realized that all chapters in this story are bridges. Y'know, there's not really any running plot or anything. Stuff just happens and people just talk in every chapter. So…yeah (I'm not making any sense…) Yes, so many people have made clear to me my own ignorance by telling me Brooklyn's surname…I am so ashamed…I think I found Emily's too, supposedly it's York. If I can ever be bothered, I'll go back and change them. Anyway I'd better go and leave you in peace now. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks again for your lovely reviews:3 You're so awesome!_**

_**Vines-throughXfate: Wow…you're leading yourself in circles here…don't think too deeply about it, it's just a fanfic! XD Glad you're getting so into the story…hope you like this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!**_

_**Musee.Picasso: I learned something long ago: saying 'no offence' doesn't stop you from causing any. (Just thought I'd let you know, I'm not actually particularly offended.) I wasn't as pissed off as I sounded, I'm just getting fed up with the 'Pair them!', 'Don't pair them!' debate. It's crazy! Anywayz. Thanks for reviewing. Hope you like chapter 8.**_

_**Demon TK: how I feel about the world? Uh…God knows…depends on what mood I'm in, I guess, haha. Mostly, no, the depressing thoughts just find their way into my empty little head. Glad you're liking it, thanks for reviewing.**_

**_Fatima: I know, I know, I knoooooow…I've never been able to write very fast if I want what I write to be worthwhile. So I'd like to think the wait is worth it…but it probably isn't :( Oh well. Here's chapter 8. Thanks for reviewing._**

**_Cookeh: yes, the world is full of strange people…Aw, I think there was a glitch when I updated so no one got any alerts for a while…oh well. I hope your ego has mended. Anyhoo, here's chapter 8, hope you like it. Thanks for reviewing._**

_**Blackdranzergurl: (falls down crying at your feet) THANK YOU! It would never have occurred to me to search wikipedia…you are indeed a lifesaver. Thank you again. And thank you for reading, reviewing and (hopefully) enjoying. Hope you like chapter 8.**_

_**Thanks to EVERYONE else too. I'd mention you all but time is short just now. **_

_**Ok, here is chapter 8. I'm still not entirely sure what's happening with the pairing thing. You guys are having a real tug-of-war over this thing O.O If I manage to find something to please everyone it's gonna be a miracle. Anyway, I hope you all can at least enjoy this chapter! Here we go…**_

_**Chapter 8**_

"These are overdue," the librarian said in irritation, peering at Tala over her old-fashioned horn-rimmed spectacles in what he assumed was supposed to be an intimidating manner.

"I know," he said plaintively, not realizing until too late that that was not the correct response, "I mean, sorry."

The ageing woman frowned disapprovingly at him and clicked her tongue before accepting the sizeable pile of reference books he had finally decided to return to the school library after having them shoved under his bed for the past month or two (incidentally having never actually read them in that time).

"Thanks," he said, hurrying away before she could respond in her trademark snappish manner.

He glanced at his watch as he descended the stairs. There were still ten minutes before school actually started. Maybe he should just head to homeroom early…

As he crossed the foyer, his footsteps seeming to almost echo with the rare empty and quiet that is a high school mere minutes before the students are obligated to be present, he caught sight of a familiar figure sitting unhappily outside the principal's office.

"On time today, Kai?" he questioned as he approached.

The slate-haired boy didn't even look up at him. He continued to stare forlornly at the shiny red linoleum floor, hands clasped loosely in his lap, expression holding something nervous, something not far off from dread.

Despite that last factor, it suddenly struck him that the boy would be an artist's fondest dream. He was pretty much picture perfect: all long limbs and tousled hair and angsty expression. He smiled slightly to himself. He was pretty sure Kai would rather be devoured alive by a swarm of flesh-eating locusts than model for anyone.

Anyway, back to business.

"What's up…?" he asked, trailing off as his brain took into account that the other boy was sitting outside the principal's office – not a coveted position – and so _that_ just might be what was up.

He could hear voices from inside the nearby room. One, naturally, was that of the principal, Mr Dickenson. The other was an unfamiliar, somewhat intimidating, commanding baritone. He suddenly realized that they sounded like they were getting closer, suggesting the two were about to quit the room. He slipped round the nearest corner, deciding that it might be wise to stay out of the way of this one. (He did, however, poke his head around said corner so he could watch the goings-on.)

Sure enough, a few seconds later the door swung open and a tall, daunting man with steel-grey hair stepped out. His appearance fit the menacing voice perfectly. At his emergence Kai looked up, but the man didn't return the gesture.

"We will discuss this later, Kai," he said coldly, walking past the boy without as much as a glance.

Kai let his head fall forward again, expression dejected. The man walked past Tala's 'hiding place' on his way to the exit. He watched his retreating back.

He logically assumed that he was a relation of Kai's. But he looked too old to be his father. An uncle, perhaps? His grandfather? But then why would he speak to him so unkindly? Was he really _that _angry about whatever he had been called to the school for…?

He turned his attention back to his fellow detective. Mr Dickenson had also emerged from the office and was regarding the teen with some amount of sympathy.

"I won't lie to you, Kai. Your grandfather is not at all happy," the head-teacher said at length, "I know things aren't very easy for either of you at home right now, but your teachers felt they had to call him. You weren't showing up for classes, disappearing half-way through the day…anything could happen to you. People were worried about you. You understand?"

He laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. Kai visibly recoiled at the human contact.

"And I know you must be finding things difficult at this unfortunate time," the kindly old man continued, "And if you ever feel you need to talk, all your teachers are here for you. So…won't you try harder from now on, Kai?"

Kai seemed to give a barely perceptible nod, and Mr Dickenson allowed him to leave. He either didn't see or chose not to see Tala as he passed, as he walked right on by.

"Hey…!" he called after him, reaching out and catching his wrist. The slate-haired boy snatched the limb out of his grasp.

"…You really don't like being touched, do you?" he questioned with a small smile as he fell into step with him.

Kai shook his head.

"Are you alright? Are you in trouble?" Tala asked.

"Oh, aren't you quick."

"What for?"

"Stop asking stupid questions."

"Ok, _sorry_," he said in mild irritation, throwing up his hands.

They walked in sullen silence for a while, before he chanced to look sideways at the other boy. His eyes widened slightly. The right side of his face was sporting a sizeable white plaster across his cheek, and there were several fresh-looking purple bruises dusted across his eye and cheekbone, and another on his jaw.

"Holy shit," he said in astonishment, "What happened to _you_?"

Kai looked up at him, evidently surprised by the outburst. The other side of his face appeared mostly unmarred, save for another spattering of bruises along the opposite jaw.

"What does it look like?" he said with a shrug, looking forward again.

"…Have you been fighting, young man?" he questioned in an imitation-teacher voice. Kai shot him a look that simply said 'don't do that'.

"I didn't start it," he said coolly, "Therefore it wasn't fighting. It was self-defence."

"You didn't do a very good job of defending yourself," he remarked, looking at his battered face, "You look a little worse for wear."

Kai gave a snort.

"If you think I look a mess…" he said, narrowing his piercing eyes, "Wait until you see the one who took it upon himself to start it."

"Who was it?"

"…I'll let you guess."

They walked along a little further until Tala reached his homeroom.

"Which class are you in?" he asked before entering.

"The same as you," Kai said with a slight frown. He stared.

"You mean you've been in the same homeroom as me this whole time and I never noticed…?" he questioned, feeling rather appalled by his own stupidity.

"Yeah," he replied absently, "Looks like someone's not been quite on the ball recently."

"Or you're just an escapee from a travelling freak show with the power to turn invisible at will," he 'suggested'.

"Regarding your recent intelligence levels, I wouldn't be surprised if you actually believed that…" Kai said, shaking his head and entering the classroom.

"But I think the most likely reason is that _you _haven't bothered showing up for homeroom very often," he concluded, following.

"So hang me."

Once they were inside and seated, Tala handed him the list of names. He scrutinised them one by one.

"Yeah, I know them," he said, disdain lurking in his expression, "Because we all started here around the same time, we were all shoved into a Guidance class together and made to talk about ourselves to each other. I'm guessing the teachers assumed that we'd band together since we were all 'fresh meat'."

"But it didn't work out that way?" Tala enquired, a smile playing across his mouth.

"No, it didn't," Kai said plaintively.

"So what do you know about them from your little interviews?" he asked, folding his arms on the desk and leaning his head on them.

"They weren't 'interviews', we had to write a paragraph about ourselves and then stand up and read it out," the other replied stonily, "And since not many are so stupid as to bare their souls to complete strangers, everyone said pretty pointless stuff."

"Pointless stuff to help with our pointless task…" Tala mused, "I like it."

Kai sighed.

"Fine…" he mumbled, consulting the first name on the list, "Brooklyn. Not exactly my favourite person. Apparently he's some sort of child prodigy…meaning, he thinks he's superior to the rest of us because he can do practically anything without even trying."

Tala laughed. Kai fixed him with a piercing glare.

"What?" he demanded.

"You hate that, don't you?" the red-head said, "Someone making you feel inferior."

"Don't try to get inside my head," Kai said threateningly, continuing to glower at him for a moment before returning his gaze to the list of names.

"He seems to have some obsession with birds, too…" he said after a pause, "He sits in the school grounds all the time and feeds them. Probably talks to them too."

"Don't be childish," Tala said chidingly, earning himself another dark look, "What about the others?"

"Maybe I won't tell you," Kai said, his mouth twisting into a clearly irritated line, "Since you seem to be going out of your way to piss me off."

"Sorry, you're just so…piss-off-able," he said, unable to suppress a small laugh, partially caused by the fact that he couldn't even think of a real word to describe his strange companion.

Kai turned away moodily, and Tala could have sworn that the expression that appeared on his face wasn't far off from a sulky pout.

"I think you need to lighten up a little, Hiwatari," he said in amusement.

"What you think honestly doesn't mean that much to me," Kai said crisply, looking back to the list.

There was a silence.

"…You _are_ going to tell me about these people, right?" Tala asked, disregarding the previous verbal barb.

"It'd be pointless not to, since we're both trying to solve this thing," he said gruffly.

"Ah, of course…" he said with a nod, "And your life does function entirely on logic, doesn't it?"

Kai ignored the comment.

"Miriam…" he said, thinking for a moment, "I think she's some kind of wannabe-Goth, I dunno. Does a lot of sport. Already joined the hockey team-"

"Ah…!" Tala said suddenly, interrupting, sitting up straight, "Speaking of sport, I almost forgot, I was supposed to give you a soccer trial…!"

"Will you shut up about that?" Kai snapped, "I have no interest in your team."

"Hn. For someone who doesn't care, you sure are touchy about it," he said, flopping back onto the desk, "How come?"

"It's nothing to do with you," he retorted.

"Nothing ever is…Whatever. Anything else about Miriam?"

"She's got a younger brother in middle school…wassisname…Joseph or something. From what I could gather, she's pretty headstrong and kind of…how to say…_outspoken_."

"Like Tyson?" he questioned innocently.

"No one's _that_ bad."

"Of course," he laughed, "Ok, Emily?"

"Science geek," he said immediately, "She even looks like one…bloody hell, her glasses take up about half her face. Most of her talk centred around nuclear physics so…I didn't pay much attention."

"You are a true intellectual."

"Shut up. Zeo…I don't think that kid should even be in high school. He seems too young, somehow. He follows Tyson around like a lost puppy, and exhausts all his energy trying to get everyone's approval…and he's unbelievably jumpy."

"Remind you of anyone?" Tala said, raising an eyebrow. He was becoming decidedly bored with talking about the potential 'suspects' and had now taken it upon himself to move onto something more…intriguing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the slate-haired boy demanded, burgundy eyes peering up at him coldly from beneath dark lashes.

"I mean, _you are jumpy_," he said simply, reaching out and tapping the other on the arm. The arm was immediately pulled away as Kai started, "See?"

"I'm not jumpy," he said venomously, eyes flashing dangerously, "I just-"

"Don't like being touched?" he suggested, unable to resist investigating what kind of reaction he could charm out of his enigmatic companion, "Oh, but let's think now. Do you _really _not like being touched, or do you just want people to _think _that you don't like being touched?"

Kai's face went white with barely suppressed anger, anger that Tala could almost see rippling beneath the contours of that expressionless façade. His hands curled into tight fists, but he remained silent, crimson eyes looking anywhere but at him.

"That's it, isn't it?" he continued, "Is it some kind of attention-seeking thing? Or something to add to your 'mysterious' image? Come on, Kai, level with me. Maybe if I understood why you do it, it wouldn't be so _annoying_."

He knew he was being rather cruel. But the expression 'being cruel to be kind' came into his head. Maybe if he pushed him, just a little, maybe it would make him see that it didn't have to be this way, that he could change a little. He was sure it would make him happier. Of course, that was if Kai did happy.

Kai shifted slightly in his seat, looking extremely ill-at-ease, not to mention spectacularly pissed off. The furious fire in his crimson eyes seemed liable to burn a hole in the desk at any given moment. Tala felt a kind of decadent satisfaction. Something in him wanted to prove that Kai Hiwatari wasn't as calm and collected as he appeared, wasn't so perfectly in control. He didn't know _why_, of course, just like he didn't know why he felt the urge to laugh almost every time the slate-haired boy spoke to him. It just felt like…like everything was false about the other boy. Like everything he said was the opposite of what he meant, like every facial expression was the contrary of the one he wanted to give. Like…no matter what, he couldn't say what he wanted. Tala didn't like it. And he refused to believe that Kai was enjoying it, either. That was why he was tweaking this nerve, twisting a knife in a place Kai obviously would rather was left alone. He was trying to obtain a glimpse of truth, to see what this boy could really be…

"Am I right?" he enquired softly, blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

Kai's eyes ceased their awkward wanderings and locked with his, an indescribable emotion in their unfathomable depths.

"I warned you before…" the boy said slowly, face inches from his, every word loaded with cutting ice, "_Stay out of my head._"

Then the bell for the end of homeroom rang, and Kai was gone, sliding fluidly from his desk and out of the class before Tala could stop him.

He didn't take the list of names with him.

* * *

Tala sat at the lunch table, pushing the school cafeteria's poor excuse for macaroni around his plate without much interest. He hadn't seen Kai since the morning, in homeroom. He wondered if the other boy had run away and abandoned the school again, despite his grandfather being called to the school that very morning. He had no way of knowing: they would have been in no coincident classes anyway. But he felt awful. He was very much aware that he had pushed it one step too far, and had either insulted the other boy beyond belief or hurt him to the same extent. He wanted to see him, apologize, do _something_… 

Just then Bryan managed to fight his way out of the lunch queue to join him at the table. Instead of sitting down to eat, however, the lilac-haired teen leaned across and grabbed hold of his arm.

"Eh…? Hey, what are you…?" Tala yelped as his friend produced a black Biro and started scribbling furiously with it onto the skin of his arm.

"I don't care _how _interesting your little diary is," Bryan said, not pausing in his task, "You are _not _forgetting this time."

"Huh…?"

When Bryan was finished, Tala examined his graffiti-ed arm.

_Soccer Game._

_2pm kick-off tomorrow._

_Be at school pitch for 1:30pm._

_If you don't come you will meet a slow and painful demise._

…

Such were the words now running all the way down his arm.

"Jeez…" he muttered, pulling down his sleeve to cover the temporary tattoo.

"I'm not kidding, by the way," Bryan said flatly, "You'd better show up tomorrow."

"I _will,_" he insisted, "Don't worry."

"I am worried," his friend replied, "I don't feel like I can rely on you when your brain is in a netherworld."

He sighed, deciding there was no point in retorting. There was a pause.

"Ok…" Bryan said, "You look depressed."

"I'm fine," he said, "And I won't let you down tomorrow. I promise."

He turned his attention back to his incomparably unappetising macaroni. But then he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, he just managed to spot a slate-and-navy-haired head swiftly leaving the cafeteria.

By the time Ian and Spencer reached the table, Tala was already gone, leaving behind a rather bewildered Bryan and a plate of untouched, congealing pasta.

"Kai!" Tala called as he chased after his (possibly ex-) comrade down the hall.

The other boy didn't stop. In fact, if anything he quickened his pace.

"Hey!" he shouted, not caring that the few others in the hall were turning to stare at him, "Hiwatari, stop a minute, huh?"

The slate-haired boy faltered for a moment, allowing Tala time to catch up and grab hold of his wrist. Kai pulled away, but not with the same fervour as before. More as though it was a conditioned reaction, something he did automatically more than any conscious distaste of contact.

"What do you want?" he asked quietly, eyes trained on the ground.

"I wanted to say sorry…" he said uncertainly, "For this morning."

Kai shrugged.

"It's not important," he said carelessly, but he still wouldn't look him in the face.

"It is important," he said insistently, "I shouldn't have said that and…and you're right, I probably shouldn't try to get into your head. It's not my place."

"No," the other agreed.

A rather uncomfortable silence descended.

"…Listen," Tala said awkwardly, "We have this soccer game here tomorrow afternoon, at two o'clock. Maybe you should come along."

Kai looked up at him for the first time, eyes curious.

"Why?" he asked bluntly. He felt the familiar urge to laugh.

"Well, you never know…" he said lightly, "It might help you work out whether or not you really have 'no interest'."

The boy regarded him silently.

"…It'd mean a lot if you came," he said at length.

"I'll think about it," Kai mumbled, turning away. Tala smiled.

"Thanks," he said.

He wasn't sure if he had achieved any of kind of peace between them.

He supposed he'd find out tomorrow.

* * *

_**Ok, nobody attack me! I keep on going on about how the main thing about this story is the diary…and yet it was barely mentioned in this chapter! I'm SORRY! **_

_**Is it just me…or was that a LONG chapter? Whoot. And yet…still, very little happened. Well whatever. **_

_**Tell me your thoughts, folks!**_

_**Until next time…**_

_**Fiver**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hi everybody!!! I managed to write this chapter pretty quickly, and so decided to update quickly! (Wheeeeee!) **_

_**Thank yoos go out to:**_

**_Whyamidoingthis01: Whoot, I LOVE your reviews!!! So awesomely long XD (But no, I think Kai was rude to Tala just because he is Kai XP) Haha, Mr Grumpy-Gills! Yes, that is indeed Kai. And I don't know if Tala is going soft…maybe he was always just nice, or maybe he just wuvs Kai :D Well I hope this chapter cheers you up after work too. Thanks for your great review._**

_**Famous4it: (whines) I'm tryyyying with Dreams Down Memory Lane, I am! It's just…I started it so long ago…and I didn't plan it out very well…so I barely even know where it's going! But the next chapter is at least half done, so it should hopefully appear soon. Here's this chapter for you anyway, hope you like it. Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**Dragon's lair: thanks so much for that :D I always try to make my stories like real life, but I never feel like I succeed…so, thank you! Hope you like chapter 9.**_

**_Hatsue Cybanne: (exasperated sigh) Damnit, I'm not typing it again!! I recommend you go back and read my author's notes at the beginnings of chapter 2 and chapter 6. That should answer your question. Thanks for the review, hope you like this chapter._**

**_Demon TK: Falling for Kai? Well, probably. Who wouldn't? XD And yes, if I really had thoughts like that, I'd probably have topped myself by now, haha. Thanks for review, hope you enjoy the new chapter._**

_**Oh no, I'm out of time. Ok thanks also to Nameless Little Girl, The Royal Idiot, Blackdranzergurl, rin-ren-ran, hunt4me, Jashomara, Nubia, Celtic Warrior, vines-throughXfate, Moon Comix, DemonicStormFox, EmZb123 and Tuli-Susi. You are all the greatest people in the world!!**_

**_Ugh…I'm getting so tired of using the word 'soccer'. It's football, damnit! FOOTBALL! So whereas I would call the shoes 'football boots' would other people call them 'soccer boots'? Somehow, that sounds weird to me…I want to just call it football…But since I've used 'soccer' in other chapters I'll have to continue on that note here… (Blech, curse me and my conformity to American words.) Anyway, on with the chapter. Hope you like. _**

_**Chapter 9**_

_Alright, I have decided to cease my endless whining and complaining. Although the very word still fills me with loathing, I shall now approach this diary in a rational, scientific manner – the manner of one who does not feel murderous at the very sight of the thing._

_Right. I clearly dislike having to keep a diary. Therefore the natural solution is to find a way to stop having to keep a diary. Let us consider the facts. I shall set the two sides of my brain to work. Logical left hand side – ask questions. Stupid emotional right hand side – answer. (I hope this isn't me leaning towards schizophrenia)_

_Why do you have to keep a diary?_

_Because I am a messed up little character. I have ISSUES._

_So if you weren't messed up, you wouldn't have to keep the diary?_

_Correct._

_So the solution to the solution is to stop being messed up?_

_Sounds about right._

_Ok. Why are you messed up?_

_Because of The Accident. But wouldn't something like that have messed up anyone? Or is it just me?_

_Shut up, I ask the questions. Why did The Accident mess you up?_

_It changed everything._

_You fear change?_

_I guess._

_Yet you allowed it to change you?_

_Oh yeah…shit!_

_You really are stupid._

_Yeah, I really am…_

_Collective personality stepping in here: Quit bickering, you two, and get back to question time._

_Right. How did The Accident change you?_

_Made me crazy, messed up, weird._

_More specific, please._

_I have behavioural issues. Anti-social. Can't talk to people. _

_Weren't you always like that?_

_Not this bad._

_Anything else?_

_I don't seem to like anything anymore. Everything sucks, pisses me off._

_Even rice-balls? You used to like rice-balls._

_Even rice-balls. _

_So if you liked rice-balls again, you'd be ok?_

_Probably._

_So the final solution is: In order to escape writing the diary, you must eat rice-balls._

…

_Holy shit, the scientific approach is bogus. Whining and complaining makes more sense than this._

_I might as well-_

"Hey, space-cadet."

Tala blinked and looked up to see Bryan standing in the changing room doorway.

"Time to get started," he said.

He nodded in response, stuffing the diary into his sports bag before following his lilac-haired friend towards the pitch, the studs on their football-boots clacking on the corridor floor. The sound abruptly vanished as soon as they stepped onto the turf. Tala looked down with a silent sigh. The pitch was water-logged after all the rain of late: every movement caused an unpleasant squelching sound and a puddle of muddy water to pool up around your feet. He sighed again. The chances of him coming out of this game not completely caked in dirt were looking exceedingly slim.

"Think they'll call it off?" Bryan asked quietly.

"I doubt it," he replied, "If someone vanishes up to the waist in sludge half-way through they might call it, but the P.E teachers aren't exactly merciful. You know… 'A bit of water never hurt anyone'."

Bryan snorted.

"You're probably right," he agreed, "Time to start the warm up then, cap'n?"

"Guess so…" he said resignedly. He signalled to the rest of the team to start jogging round the pitch.

It was still early, so there weren't many spectators yet. His parents had announced the previous evening that they were heading off to Europe for a business weekend, so he knew they wouldn't be present. They didn't come to watch him very often anyway. Soccer was just his hobby; therefore they saw it as something of little importance. He felt himself bristle slightly at the thought and forced himself to put it out of his mind. Getting pissed off about it now would only make him lose his concentration.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other team arriving and starting their warm-up. Their coach, a man named Barthez, watched from the sidelines. Tala felt somewhat wary of this team: there was a rumour circulating that they didn't play fair, and that was the only reason they had gotten this far. He caught Bryan's eye and they both smirked, each knowing that the other was thinking the same thing. Their own team preferred to just play the game as it was meant to be played, but they were no wimps. If these guys started with the foul play, it was going to end up coming around and biting them in the ass.

After running a few laps they stopped to do some stretches. At this point some people were arriving to watch. He saw a group of girls from the art department who had made a huge banner to cheer them on. It read 'Kick Some Balls!' in large red letters. He laughed out loud and gave them the thumbs up. They waved back, some squealing, giggling and blushing.

"Mr Popularity," Bryan said, nudging him with his elbow.

"Whatever," he returned, trying to cover his embarrassment. He scanned the stands briefly. There didn't seem to be any sign of Kai; not yet, anyway. Spencer was standing in the front row, though, right behind the sidelines. Ian had told them earlier that he wasn't going to be able to make it, so the tall blonde currently stood alone.

Just then, the referee came out onto the pitch and blew his whistle, signalling that the game was about to start. The two crowds of spectators started to cheer, each trying to drown out the other. Trying to bite back the adrenaline rush, Tala made his way to the centre of the pitch to meet the other team's captain – a confident-looking blonde boy called Miguel.

"Captains, shake hands!" the referee bellowed.

The two obliged. Tala briefly clasped the other's tanned hand in his own pale one, and nodded at him amiably – a gesture he was mildly surprised to see returned.

"Alright, boys," the man said, setting the all-important black and white globe in the middle of the centre circle, "Let's keep it clean, huh?"

And he blew the whistle.

Spencer watched with amusement, but not really very much surprise, as the referee blew the first whistle and his red-headed friend immediately stole the ball and took off with it. Tala was a good player, and could probably go professional in the future if he so wished. He didn't seem to aspire to that, though; he said he needed something in his life that was just for fun, and not just another thing to put pressure on him. It pissed Bryan off to no end, but Spencer understood. He knew Tala had some pretty high demands to meet to please his parents. The last thing he needed to do was give them something else for them to set their high standards to.

As the game went on, he started to feel a little bored. It was looking pretty much like a textbook match: the other team's defence would put up a brave fight, but in the end would be no match for the ruthless game-play of Tala and Bryan, sadists that they were.

Sure enough, the crowd from their school erupted into cheers as said red-head smashed the ball into the back of the net.

Not the type to cheer himself, Spencer merely allowed himself a small smile in his friend's favour. His attention was wandering slightly, though, and it was rather cold when you were just standing here watching. He shifted from foot to foot, stopping when the mud around his feet squelched ominously.

After a few more minutes, he started to notice that something seemed wrong. Not drastically wrong, but wrong all the same. Tala didn't seem as focused as usual: he was looking over his shoulder from time to time and glancing through the crowd, as if looking for something. He could see Bryan getting annoyed with him and laughed slightly.

Just then, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking round, he saw a figure advancing somewhat uncertainly from behind the nearby PE block. He rolled his eyes. There was always one who showed up late, wasn't there?

As the figure approached he noticed something strikingly familiar about them: they had twin blue triangles emblazoned on either side of their face. He had never seen this kid before personally, but Tala and Bryan seemed to have been discussing him a lot lately, so there could be no mistaking his identity. After all, how many other people in the school were walking around with blue paint on their faces? Come to think of it…Tala might have mentioned something the previous day about the boy coming along here.

"Hey," he greeted as the other boy approached, "Kai, right?"

The boy started slightly and looked up at him, pale face grave and uneasy. He held his gaze for a moment, amethyst eyes wary and unblinking, before looking away and shrugging.

"What's it to you?" he asked, mouth twisting in such a way that told Spencer he was very, very uncomfortable, for whatever reason.

"I'm a friend of Tala's," he replied, ignoring the undisguised suspicion in the other's tone, "You did come to see him, didn't you?"

He shrugged again.

"Maybe," he replied, still looking away.

"Well you'd better hurry up," he said, indicating towards the pitch, "I don't think he's going to be able to concentrate until he knows you're here."

The other boy grumbled and sighed something that may or may not have been 'idiot' but allowed himself to be steered towards the sidelines.

After waiting for a moment when Tala was not directly involved in game-play, Spencer called to him. Having caught his attention, he pointed to his lucky find. The red-head's face visibly lit up and he waved. Kai scowled at him and signalled furiously for him to concentrate on the game. Tala laughed and nodded before running off.

"Jeez…" Kai muttered, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his face. Spencer watched him in amusement for a moment.

"I think I get it now…" the blonde said after a short reflection.

"Get what?" Kai asked, looking up at him with a frown.

"Why he's been so spaced out over you," he replied, gesturing to Tala.

"Me…? I don't think so," the other boy said, shaking his head, "It's that diary that occupies his every waking moment."

"Hn…you're right, it was the diary at first," Spencer agreed, "But sometimes, especially yesterday, I don't think it's been on his mind at all. Seems to me that you've got him pretty distracted too."

"What'd I do?" he demanded, mouth shrinking to a thin, irritated line. Spencer had heard it said that this kid was expert at concealing emotions. He wondered vaguely to himself how he managed such a feat with a mouth as animated at that.

"You probably haven't done _anything_," he replied, "That's the point."

Kai groaned.

"I swear, _everyone _at this school speaks a different language from me…" he mumbled, glaring at the sky as if it was the source of this problem.

"Or maybe you just don't listen?" Spencer suggested.

"I'm listening now."

"Well…it's like-"

However, before the blonde could get any further, he was cut off by an indignant shout.

"Hey!"

Kai jumped about a foot in the air as a manicured hand shot out and grabbed the sleeve of his t-shirt and hauled him towards its owner. Said owner just happened to be a not-so-amused look girl with shocking pink hair and a sizeable clique of handbag-wielding lackeys behind her.

"We saw that, you jerk," the leader snapped, hands on hips, "Listen up, new boy: if someone like Tala is kind enough to waste a moment of his precious time to wave to _you, _at least have the decency to wave back."

"I didn't _ask _him for the honour of being waved at," Kai replied acidly, examining his rather stretched sleeve as if it might be diseased.

"That doesn't give you the right to be _rude _to him," she retorted, earning a few cries of agreement from her followers.

For a moment it looked like Kai was in serious danger of going to a painful, grisly death as the girls started to descend on him like a pack of lionesses, but just before they could tear him to shreds, Spencer stepped between them and the slate-haired boy, who was already starting to look as if he regretted his decision in coming here today.

"I think that's enough, Mariah," the blonde said firmly to the pack leader, "At present, you are the one being rude."

"B-but senpai…" she said, immediately changing her tone, "Tala's your friend, and you saw what he-"

Spencer silenced her with a stern look. She bit her lip in an evident attempt to restrain a temper-tantrum before she and her friends made a hasty retreat.

"…That's what I was talking about," Spencer said after a pause, "Almost everyone in our year admires and looks up to Tala, and even a lot of the older students respect him. He doesn't know why, and I don't think it's something he really wants, either. And it might sound sexist, but girls are definitely the worst for it. The stupid ones, anyway. They follow him around and fawn all over him, and it drives him crazy. He doesn't hesitate to push them away with cold words, but nothing seems to repel them, as you may have noticed."

"Cold words…?" Kai questioned, looking genuinely surprised, "Him?"

"Heh, I guess I was right in thinking that he doesn't expose you to his icy tongue," the blonde said with a small laugh, "But it's true: he can be very impatient and unkind with people who irritate him. That's why I understand now why he seems to like you so much."

"And why is that?" Kai sighed, voice tinted with sarcasm.

"Because you don't care what he thinks of you," He replied simply, "You don't pretend to be something you're not in order to impress him or get his approval, unlike a lot of other people. He hates it when people do that. So…from what I can gather…you're harshly honest with him. I'm sure he appreciates that…it's probably a breath of fresh air. And, y'know, he might actually have to strive for _your _approval, which is something totally new. Generally, people he's barely spoken to before just adore him for reasons unknown to him. You understand what I'm saying?"

"…I think so."

"Good. So don't start being all nice to him, huh? Keep him on his toes. Keep him happy."

"You talk as if…as if he and I are friends," Kai said quietly, watching the game closely, "We…we're not."

Spencer laughed lightly.

"What's funny?" the other boy asked sharply, lilac eyes gracing him with their keen gaze,

"You talk like it's a choice whether or not you become friends with someone," he said, "Isn't it something that just happens? If you spend time with someone you have no particular reason to dislike, then you can't really make a conscious decision not to be friends with them. Stuff like that just…happens. You get close to them before you even realize it. It's not something you can control, is it?"

"Only if you know how," Kai said darkly, looking away again.

They remained in silence until a while after half-time, when it started to become apparent that there was more to this team than first met the eye. There was something about their tactics that made you feel they were playing unfairly, but there was nothing you could really put your finger on, and so nothing to penalize them for.

And then…it happened.

The score was tied at two apiece. Tala had taken possession of the ball, and it looked as though he was about to put his team in the lead again. However, before he could take a shot at the goal, one of the opposite team's defenders came in for a sliding tackle. But it was either a very poorly executed tackle, or a deliberate attempt at sabotage, because the studs on their boots caught Tala's leg…and tore two deep gashes across his shin. The red-head's already porcelain-skinned face went sickly pale, but he managed to keep his balance, even if he did lose the ball.

"What the hell?" Kai blurted out, seemingly involuntarily.

Spencer raised his eyebrows.

"He can't…they can't do that…!" the slate-haired boy said adamantly, obviously somewhat outraged. He looked rather prepared to stomp onto the pitch and deal with the matter right there and then, but Spencer stopped him with a hand on his shoulder (which was, of course, quickly shrugged off).

"Don't," he said, "Tala'll deal with it."

The referee blew his whistle to halt the game and came over to inspect the situation. Tala was down on one knee, examining the injury and obviously trying to ignore his blood staining the grass around him. He kept his composure, and the only outward signs that he was in any great pain were his pallid complexion and the fact that he was currently biting down hard on his lower lip.

Almost immediately the red-head's team-mates started yelling in outrage, whilst their supporters backed them up. The opposing team fell back slightly, especially the boy who had committed the foul. But the referee gave the all-clear. The fan's protests grew louder, and even the opposite team's captain came over to insist that some action should be taken. The referee still refused to do anything, and merely asked Tala if he wanted to swap off for the remainder of the game. The red-head looked at him as if he were deranged and said no, he'd play on. By this time the first-aider's had arrived and after hurriedly patching up the wound, the game was set to continue.

"…The referee wasn't watching, was he?" Kai said irritably after a moment.

"He was busy eyeing up the cheerleaders," Spencer confirmed with a nod, "Don't worry. Like I said, Tala will deal with it. And so will the rest of the team, by the look of them."

"…I wasn't worried."

"Alright."

As the game went on, it quickly became apparent that the home team was not at all amused by their opponents' antics. The tackles became rougher, the game-play became fiercer, and many times the referee threatened players with being sent off and banned from future games. Tala was no part of this, though. He played on as before, only looking more focused than before. Whilst Bryan hacked away at the opposing players – looking determined to break at least one pair of legs before the ninety minutes was up – he played on quietly. Quietly, but coldly, like a wolf preparing to go for its victim's throat.

The clock was ticking, and one could almost feel the tension in the air. Both crowds of supporters had fallen silent, all probably holding their breath.

Eight-eight minutes gone…eight-nine minutes gone…

"Red!" Bryan yelled impatiently across the pitch, "Sink it now before I do it for you!"

Tala shot him a smirk and then, almost effortlessly, as if to prove to his opponents that he had done nothing but toy with them all this time, tapped the ball past their goalkeeper and into the net.

There was a stunned silence, before the crowd erupted into a frenzy of screaming and cheering. The referee blew the final whistle, and it was all over.

The team – who really hadn't looked all that surprised, showing that they had seen this kind of thing many times before – bellowed their approval and just about crushed their captain as they bombarded him with rough pats on the back and congratulations.

"Told you he'd deal with it," Spencer said with a smile.

"He didn't," Kai said bluntly, "He didn't even go near the guy who fouled him, never mind hurt him in return."

"You have a somewhat hideous revenge complex," the blonde laughed, "He beat them, isn't that enough? That tackle was an attempt to take out one of our top players. They did it in the hopes that it would help them win. That's all they really wanted to do, right? Win. And Tala took that away from them. I think that's punishment enough."

Kai didn't reply, but he looked unconvinced.

Once the cheering had abated somewhat, the team emerged from the changing rooms. Escaping the mob of exalting fans, Tala located them and ran over.

"We won," he said with a boyish grin, obviously not even caring that he was stating the obvious. He turned to Kai, "And you came!"

And he looked so deliriously happy and without a care in the world that not even Kai had the heart (or lack thereof) to make a cutting remark.

The red-head was still in his blue, orange and white soccer strip – now splattered with mud, boots caked with dirt and a dark red stain starting to form on the surface of the bandage on his leg. He seemed to have temporarily forgotten the wound, however, and cheerily thanked everyone who offered him a well done as they passed.

"Hey, Ivanov."

All three turned around at the voice. It belonged to Michael Parker, a senior at their school. Although he was more well-known for his passion for baseball, he was very much an all-round jock and had a great appreciation of soccer too.

"Nice game," he said with a nod, "The senior basketball team won their match yesterday too, so in celebration we're having a small and refined party at my place tonight. You and your team up for it?"

"That depends," Tala said, looking mock-thoughtful, "By 'small and refined party' do you mean a crazy, drunken rave-up?"

Michael grinned widely and folded his arms.

"But of course," he said.

"Then yeah, sounds good," Tala said with a laugh. Michael gave him the thumbs up.

"Right on, man. We're kicking off at eight, God knows when it'll end. Bring your friends, there ain't no guest-list."

"Sure thing," he said with an affirming nod, "Thanks a lot."

Soon after the tide of supporters subsided, but with the promise of a party in mind, it was definite that the celebrations were far from over.

Bryan eventually found them, cleaned up and clad in normal clothes again. He frowned at his captain.

"Why are you still in your kit?" he questioned.

"Because…" he said with a smirk, "I have a trial to give."

Bryan's frown deepened, and then he noticed the presence of Kai (who, incidentally, looked on the verge of slashing the red-head down with a machete).

"Tala, you really have to stop forcing people into your team…" the lilac-haired teen sighed, signalling to Spencer to follow his lead in walking away, "My condolences," he said to Kai as he passed.

There was a short silence.

"Look, you-" Kai started in evident irritation.

"You might as well quieten down, because you aren't getting out of it, Hiwatari," Tala said with a smirk, producing a soccer ball from inside his (very roomy) sports bag.

Kai looked at him lividly for a moment, but he only laughed.

"Come on," he said lightly, turning and heading in the direction of the nearby park.

He knew without turning back that Kai had grudgingly started to follow.

**_End of chapter 9. Wheeee. I think the reason I'm finding it easier to write now is that I'm actually supposed to be studying. Writing my stories is much more enticing than irregular German verbs. So yes. _**

**_Aaaaand...somehow the term 'football boots' still found its way into this chapter. Oh well! XD_**

_**Ok, I hope you all liked. **_

_**Please review!**_

_**Until chapter 10…**_

_**Fiver**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Hola, everybody. I'm baaa-aaaack!**_

**_Y'know…to tell the truth…the diary has really faded into obscurity…oh wait, it does appear in this chapter. Whoo, aren't I good?_**

**_People are still asking the romance questions. I keep telling ya'll, que sera, sera!!! ;D_**

_**Ok, thank you's and replies: **_

**_Destiny Quill: Aw crap, I really need to do more research before I start typing… (Hits head off of keyboard) Is that true? At my school the boys seem only to wear shin-guards during training…and I've never even noticed them on professional footballers before (Okay, scratch that, just asked my mum, pros do wear them, I'm just not observant and not a big fan of football. But she says it's not compulsory so maybe Tala was just being tough? (You'd think I'd know) Or maybe it's cos he's so spacey he just forgot to put them on? Yeah, that's probably it.) And I don't know about cleats but the studs on football boots look nasty! XO And I had to find some way to hurt him (poor Tala, me being such a sadist). And the other team were cheating so they probably had illegal metal-spike-enforced shoes!!! XD Ok, I have tried to justify my crappy mistakes enough now (Wait…wasn't there a scene in Digimon where Davies slide-tackled Ken and his leg got cut? Oo Anything that happens in Digimon is good enough for me!!!) Yeah, Spencer really got his ten minutes of fame in chapter 9, considering he's barely spoken before in the story X3 And cleats…that's a funny word! (Giggling like insane child) They have some funny words 'out west'. Like 'soda'…I mean, what the hell is a soda? I get confused with soda water, cream soda and just plain soda. And now I'm rambling. Ok I'm done. Thanks for reviewing, hope you like this chapter!!!_**

**_vines-throughXfate: the glare of DOM!!! oooh that sounds real scary! (Sorry, sorry, I rip it out of typos, feel free to make fun of any of mine) Anyhoo, hope you like this chapter, thanks for reviewing!_**

**_DaCow Takao: aw! (pats on head) you so slow! (But in a cute way X3) Wow…I feel like no one else on this website is from Scotland! Yes…football boots…cos they are boots people wear…whilst playing football!! XD (shocker, ne?) Okies, thanks for reviewing, hope you like this chapter!_**

**_Whyamidoingthis01: yass, another long review! X3 Well…as you may have noticed, I have never had much interest in soccer/football. That is why most of chapter 9 was probably totally inaccurate. Yeah…I always wondered why American Football is called football…since they seem to spend most of the time carrying the ball…I always thought it was closer to being the equivalent of rugby…but I guess our predecessors thought different:P LOL, yes, then Kai and Tala wake up the next morning and wonder how the hell they ended up in a tree!!! (Oh, the adverse effects of alcohol! Don't we just love the possibilities it entails?) You're right, Spencer would be the one who held his friends' hair out of their faces while they threw up and left glasses of water on their bedside tables for the splitting hangover they would have in the morning. And yes, I can very easily picture Tala dragging Kai (literally) into the spotlight XD Ooh, our little phoenix shall hate that indeed. Ok, I hope you slept well. Hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for your (as always) awesome review!_**

**_WalkingDeathWish: Um…I'm not entirely sure which chapter you mean, but I never wrote any diary entry that said Mariah liked the author…hm…weird…oh well XD anyhoo, thanks for reviewing, hope you like new chapter!_**

_**Hunt4me: whoot, I love how everyone seems to think the exact same as me about American football! XD Thanks for that, and for reviewing, hope you like this chapter!**_

**_Thanks also to Jashomara, tacks, lilhazelnutta, KrisSk8Gurl, Yuri-Demonica, Neglected Little Girl, Cookeh, Nameless Little Girl, hurtinphoenix, Winterblazewolf, lollipop and blackkaosrose. You all deserve hugs, cookies and many shiny pennies. _**

_**There we go…aaaaand here we go, chapter 10. Enjoy!**_

_**Chapter 10**_

For most of the way towards the park they didn't talk. Kai remained silent out of sheer stubbornness, and Tala was still soaring along quite happily on Cloud Nine and so didn't hassle him into pointless banter. However, he did quickly become annoyed with the other boy walking three steps behind him and so slowed down so that he had no choice but to catch up.

"Your face is looking better," he commented as they fell into step, indicating to the fading bruises. The bandage had been removed too, revealing a healing graze on his cheek. Of course, the blue triangles were still there, painstakingly applied to avoid any open wounds.

"I'm a fast healer," he replied dryly, scuffing his feet slightly.

Just as they passed through the park gates, Tala's mobile phone sounded from within his sports bag. He unzipped it quickly and rummaged inside, eventually locating the demanding appliance. He looked at the called ID and frowned.

"…What is it?" Kai questioned as the phone continued buzzing.

"It's my dad," he said, looking surprised.

"You mean your parents don't always call to check up on you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in mock-surprise.

"No, least of all after a soccer match," he laughed, "Makes a nice change."

He flipped the phone open and put it to his ear as they continued walking.

"Dad, hi…" he started.

"I can't talk long, international mobile rates are extortionate," the elder Ivanov interrupted, "Listen to me: the Jurgen's are having a dinner party tonight, in celebration of their son Robert getting into a top medical school. I want you there, Tala. They are a very influential family; if you are well acquainted with them it could improve your chances of also entering medical school."

"But dad-"

"No buts. They're expecting you to be there for seven thirty. Don't mess this up."

There was a click as his father hung up without as much as a goodbye.

He growled angrily and stuffed the phone back in his bag (after briefly toying with the idea of throwing it in the nearby pond). He then walked on briskly, not wanting to look at his companion because – since his father belonged to the generation who believed it necessary to shout every word spoken into a mobile phone – he had undoubtedly overheard the entire conversation.

"So…medical school," said companion remarked, catching up with him, "That sounds fun."

"You think so?" he said sarcastically.

If he had been looking, he would have seen the surprise flit across Kai's face at his snappy tone.

"Not really," he said.

"Good, because I don't either," the red-head said, throwing his bag under a nearby tree.

"Then why are you…?"

"Because _he _says I am, ok?" he snapped, startling the other with the ice in his blue eyes, "Y'know, by the time I was _twelve _I still hadn't decided on a career path, so he decided for me."

Kai regarded him solemnly for a moment.

"And you're ok with that?" he asked at length.

"Of course not!" he said, leaning his head against the tree trunk, "It's just…well, I still don't have much of an idea what I'd like to do…so maybe it's better to just do what I'm told. At the very least it gives me a sense of direction."

"But what's the point in heading in a direction you're just going to hate?" Kai said in a voice that, for once, was neither cold nor sarcastic, "A lot of people don't know what they want to do with their lives at our age. And anyone who knows at twelve has lost their childhood _way _too early. If you don't know…it doesn't make you weak-minded or unreliable. You're a school-person, right? Just concentrate on your school-y little world, and things will unfold from there."

There was a pause.

"Are you trying to make me feel better, Kai?" he asked at length, a small smile softening his features. Kai shot him an annoyed look and turned away.

"Well, thanks anyway," he said, "What about you? Got a future career in mind?"

"No," he replied firmly, kicking a stray stone.

"You seem awful sure about that," the red-head commented.

"So do you."

"Well yeah, but…you sound determined _not _to know."

"What have I told you about getting inside my head?"

"Aw, come on…is it something embarrassing?" he pretended to gasp, "Ooh, something _dirty?_"

Kai looked up at him, shock and disgust doing battle for dominance on his usually passive face.

"No," he said once he recovered his voice.

"Well that's a relief, at least. So, what, you just want to stay a teen delinquent forever?"

Kai kicked another stone, more savagely this time.

"I wasn't _always _like this, you know," he said, "Once upon a time I was a goddamned clean-cut, straight-A student, just like you. Never caused any trouble."

"Wow," he said, applying the technique of smart-aleck reply to cover his surprise, "What went wrong?"

"A lot of things," he said vaguely, "First and fore-mostly, I realized that it was pointless. School sucks the life out of you, until you're quiet, conforming and just another adolescent to be carted off to college. I needed to get out, while I still had the mind to do so. How can you stand it? Don't you ever feel like just throwing it all to hell? Go crazy, just for one day?"

He had walked a little distance away and now stood with his back to him. Tala looked at him sadly for a moment. Despite what he said, it took more than just a sudden pissed-off-ness with the system to make a top student throw away everything they had worked so hard for.

"I guess rebelling is something that's just never crossed my mind," he replied finally.

"Of course not…" Kai said, "You're not that type of person, are you? You need school, because you need to pass your exams to get into university and get a good job and just generally be one of the high-and-mighty members of society. I can't make myself care about things like that, even if I try."

Tala shook his head and sighed, flopping down on the ground under the tree.

"Ow…" he winced as the action tugged at his injured leg. Kai sighed too and sat down next to him.

"Idiot," he said, "Why weren't you wearing shin-guards?"

"Heh, they annoy me," he said with a shrug, gingerly peeling back the bandage to expose the bloody wound.

"Bet you wouldn't have been complaining about them today," he remarked, looking at the gashes, "Nice."

"Lovely, aren't they?" he said, gritting his teeth as he yanked the entire bandage off but grimacing in pain all the same.

"He got you pretty bad," Kai commented, "…Why didn't you hurt him back?"

"I beat them," he said with another shrug, "I figured that was enough."

"Don't give me that," he said sharply, "That's such a politically-correct teacher answer. Nothing you say is likely to offend me, and I think you know that I won't pass your secrets on."

Tala frowned, looking a little puzzled, before smiling slightly.

"I really can tell you anything, little agony-aunt Kai?" he laughed softly. The other's face went rather red, whether from anger or embarrassment, he couldn't tell.

"Well it's not like I'll actually do anything to solve your stupid problems," he said haughtily, "And it's not like I care, anyway."

"Ooh, but you do care, because if you didn't, you wouldn't have asked," he said, wagging a finger, "So even if it's just a teeny-tiny bit, you do care, and that means the last of your street-cred is go-o-one."

"No, you're stupid, I don't care."

"Yes you do, cos you want to know."

"No I don't. I don't even want to know anymore."

"Aw, come on, don't be a grump."

"Shut up."

"But I want to tell you now!"

"Too bad, I'm not listening."

"Come on, deep down in your granite little heart you know you want to."

"No, I don't."

"Well, I'll tell you anyway!" he announced, flopping down flat on his back.

"Great…" Kai mumbled, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Tala laughed again and looked up at the leafy expanse of the tree above them.

"I didn't hurt him back…" he said slowly, still staring firmly upwards, "Because it's not in my nature to come to my own defence. I don't see it as an important thing. Yeah, so someone hurt me, so what, y'know? It's not…a big deal…"

"Your team looked pretty pissed off about it," the other said, serious again, "And the supporters."

"Yeah but…only because I'm part of the team. Not because I'm myself. There's really…nothing of merit…about me."

"You don't see yourself…as being important enough…to be defended?" Kai asked, tilting his head to one side as he looked at him. Tala blinked before smiling at him.

"You should feel honoured, by the way," he said, "I haven't even told this to my closest friends."

"Then why are you telling me?" he questioned, picking up a fallen twig and scratching it in the dirt.

"Hm…maybe because I care so little about you that what you know is of no relevance to me?"

"Ok," he replied, as if that was the answer he had actually wanted to hear.

"I was joking, you friendless little nomad," he said, flicking a nearby pebble at him, "I don't know why I'm telling you. I just felt like I should. Damnit, I don't _know, _there's just something about you…"

"You're sounding stupid again," the slate-haired boy said dully, refusing to meet his eyes.

"You're sounding embarrassed again."

"Shut up."

He grumbled to himself and rolled over so that his back was facing his stubborn companion, and then rolled back again to show he was, as usual, only kidding. Kai looked at him without much interest.

"You're going to get all dirty down there, y'know," he pointed out.

"Pft, well my kit wasn't exactly in pristine condition after that match, anyway," he said, sitting up and attempting to dust himself down, "Anyway, you ready to start this trial or what?"

"I don't want to."

"Excellent, let's get started," he said, as if the other boy had answered in the positive. He got to his feet and grabbed the other's wrist. Of course, he attempted to pull away, but Tala had evidently been expecting such an action because he held on tightly.

"I know all your tricks by now, Hiwatari," he said in amusement. Kai glowered at the ground.

Tala blinked slightly when he realized how easily he couldn't feel the other's bones beneath the skin and flesh of his arm.

"You're skinny," he said, pulling him to his feet.

"Yeah, so what?" he mumbled, finally managing to extract his wrist.

"You're tiny, too!" Tala exclaimed, trying hard not to laugh. Normally, when he saw Kai walking around school and the like, the other boy walked so tall and proud it was difficult to judge his actual height. However, right now he stood in a more informal posture, and he could see that he was at least a few inches smaller than himself.

"I am not," he snapped in annoyance, glaring at him heatedly.

"Ok, ok, so you're not _tiny,_" he conceded, "But you are rather more petite than you appear to be at first glance."

For a moment Kai looked tempted to kick him in the shins (probably right on his already present wounds) but, as per usual, he managed to swallow his temper.

"You know, you _can _just yell at me sometimes," Tala told him, fishing the soccer ball out of his bag again, "If you want to."

"I _always _want to," he grumbled, folding his arms. Tala laughed gaily, an action that surprised even himself.

"Well, go on then," he said, opening his arms as if inviting a blow, "Yell at me, hit me, grind me to a pulp. It'd be refreshing at the very least."

To his perplexity, Kai's expression immediately became uneasy.

"Who _are _you anyway?" he asked, shuffling away slightly, "Whenever you were around me before, you were always so…so carefree, and so damn idiotic. But today…your friend told me that you're not really like that. You don't like people, you push them away from you."

"Look who's talking," he put in, humour fading somewhat.

"But I don't hide it," he said, "Why are you different around me?"

He caught his gaze with those sharp crimson eyes, and it was a mistake to look into them, because once you did, you couldn't look away again.

"I dunno…" he muttered, "Maybe cos you're different from other people?"

"I'm not some freak for you to toy with for your amusement," he snapped.

"That's not what I meant!" he snapped back, "Why don't you listen, Kai? Why don't you actually listen to what I'm saying, ever? You hear me, but you don't listen. Why?"

"Because I'm nothing to do with you!" he said in the loudest voice he had ever heard him use, "You don't know me, I don't know you. The only reason we're ever in the same place at the same time is because of some poor sap's diary."

There was a spiralling silence for a long, long moment.

"That's really all there is to you, huh?" Tala said finally, "There really is nothing beyond the diary. You can't even contemplate that the diary could lead to something else, can you? You don't want to consider that someone might actually give a shit about you, and you could form a new bond. Stuff like that just never comes into your head, does it?"

Kai looked away, the expression on his face almost guilty.

"…I guess not," Tala sighed, "Well, ok, whatever. We'll play it your way."

He kicked the soccer ball in his irritation and sent it flying into the nearby pond. Not caring, he plopped back down under the tree and pulled the diary out of his bag.

"Sit down," he ordered, "And we'll read the goddamn thing."

The other boy didn't obey. He turned on his heel and walked away briskly, not looking back once. For a moment Tala was tempted to shout after him, but he dismissed the idea. The kid was incorrigible. There was no point.

He flipped the notebook open and found the entry he had half-read before the match. He found it kind of difficult to concentrate on reading, but forced himself to do so.

_Holy shit, the scientific approach is bogus. Whining and complaining makes more sense than this._

_I might as well face it: I'm stuck with this thing. Probably forever. I can see it now: me, in 20 years time, working the nightshift at some secluded 7/11, writing my little diary, with Guidey coming to check up on me every so often (assuming, of course, that she's still alive then)._

_Ugh, I really can't take this anymore. I hate being this way, hate it, hate it, HATE IT._

_I can imagine an English teacher analyzing this. 'Now class, notice how the writer makes references to the concept of change…this represents a fear of mortality, or perhaps global warming, or maybe even a distinct dislike of changing clothes…' I hate how they go on. I wrote change because I meant change. I'm a routine-freak. Everything must be just so, or the universe will implode. That's why The Accident was such a shock to my delicate little system: it shook up my whole damned routine. Maybe that's what bothered me most about it. Maybe I am actually that shallow. God, couldn't you work all this for yourself, right-hand brain?_

_My head hurts._

_This whole thing's a bloody oxymoron. I want to change the way I am, but I have an unnatural phobia of change. I want to stop writing in this thing, and in order to do so, here I am writing in it. About change. Which I hate. Which I need._

_Crap, migraine coming on._

He smiled dryly but couldn't quite find it in him to laugh.

He wondered to himself if he would ever actually work out the identity of the author. If they weren't going to give any outward clues, and if they acted differently in the 'real world' than they way they portrayed themselves in writing…well, what hope was there?

He sighed and shut his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he felt a (most likely stress-related) headache coming on.

Suddenly, something rolled up and bumped against his knee. He opened his eyes again and saw that it was a rather wet soccer ball. He blinked and stared at it in astonishment, thinking for one ridiculous moment that it had jumped out of the pond and returned of its own accord. He then decided it might be wise to look up. He did so, and was greeted by the sight of his partner-in-crime, attempting to wring some of the water out of his trousers, which were soaked up to the knee.

"Did you have to kick it in the pond?" Kai complained, "My feet are all wet."

He gawped for a moment, his gaze alternating between the boy and the ball. He then proceeded to burst out laughing. He hadn't laughed so much in a long time, and it felt good.

"I swear, Hiwatari," he gasped, pointing a finger accusingly, "You will be the one to blame if I go insane before I graduate from high school."

"I think you were insane before you _entered_ high school," the slate-haired boy said with a nod, sitting down next to him.

Tala picked up the black and white ball and twirled it on his finger.

"So does this mean you _do _care?" he asked teasingly. Kai rolled his eyes.

"A 'teeny-tiny bit', I guess," he said with a shrug.

"I guess it's an improvement," he laughed.

Kai read the diary entry he had just finished for a short while, then a light breeze got up and he started shivering.

"Come on, little pond-fish," Tala said in amusement, "No trial today, you'd better get home and get changed. After all, you can't go to a party looking like that."

Kai looked up at him sharply.

"Who said I was going to a party at all?" he demanded.

"Aw, come on, you can't be so cruel as to make me go alone," he mock-whined.

"Who are you kidding?" he grumbled, "Your entire fan-club will be there."

"Yeah, but they suck."

"Wait…don't you have a previous engagement tonight, anyway, Mr Medical-School?" he asked, "Dinner party, Jurgens, lots of rich guys with silver spoons up their asses? Any of this ringing any bells?"

"Oh, you thought I'd forgotten?" he grinned as they started walking down the path, "Nah, I think I'll go crazy and just rebel. I can go eat dinner with some upper-class snobs anytime. Going to an all-night, teen drink-fest…those opportunities are less frequent. My parents are away this weekend, I'm gonna make the most of it."

"Are you sure?" Kai asked, looking almost shocked, "I mean…your parents _will _find out."

"I'll deal with that when I get to it," he said with a flap of the hand, "Besides, if I don't go, who'll be there to keep you company?"

The slate-haired boy sighed.

"You really are a weird one," he said.

"So I'm not a stupid one anymore?" he asked hopefully.

"No, you're that too."

"Damn, that's cold. Well, you might as well get used to me, Hiwatari. You've given me a speck of hope for you, and you're going to regret that more than anything else you've done in your entire life."

"Great…"

"It's your fault I'm doing this, you know. Your little anarchy speech has given me an entirely new outlook on life."

"No, you just want someone to blame for when your parents ask why you skipped the nouveau-riche's party."

"True. I'll just have to tell them that you are a bad influence on me."

"This is why I don't like talking to you."

"I was _kidding, _jeez. I guess I'll just have to tell them the truth."

"I'm sure that'll go down well."

"Oh yes."

"You don't _have _to go to this thing, y'know."

"Oh but I do, because if I don't go, you won't go, and that would be a terrible shame."

"You're making no sense."

"Of course not, I pride myself in driving you crazy with my little paradoxes. Now be a good little fish, and meet me here about eight, ok?"

They had reached the park gates. Kai gave a deep sigh of resignation.

"If nothing else remotely important comes up, I'll think about it," he said finally.

"Hey, that's what you said about the soccer match," Tala said, "And you came!"

"I came out of sheer pity," he said, starting to walk away, "Don't expect the same thing twice."

Tala watched his retreating back with some amusement. He was starting to wonder which mystery was more enticing to him: the mystery of the diary, or the mystery of Kai Hiwatari.

* * *

**_END! Holy crap, these chapters are getting longer and longer! WAAAAH! It's my determination to squish everything into 15 chapters. So yeah, party next chapter!!! I've been so desperate to write that part! (Squee!)_**

_**Until then…**_

_**Please review!**_

**_Fiver –x- _**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Helloooo m'dears. I have come crawling back.**_

_**Thank yous and replies:**_

_**Rin-ren-ran: aw, you so kind (huggle) I am glad my writing pleases you :D Thank you for reviewing, hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

_**Lola Clarkson: Yes, too much about you indeed…I know I said I love long reviews, but you don't have to deliberately try to pad out an averagely-long review!! XD Ah, makes me laugh. Ew, Saw 2. Not my kind of film. I fail to see how you can laugh. (Yeah…anyone who can laugh at Saw would tend not to like Watership Down. I loved that book when I was a kid!! But as for the origins of the name, well, that's for me to know :P) Red hair beats blonde hair any day. And do what you wanna do I guess…you can tell me all about your life but, y'know, there's not much I can do to help you out…this is just a fanfiction after all. And yes, this is a party chapter. As for dancing…if you know of ANY way that anyone could get Kai to dance, do let me know. If you're desperate maybe I could write a silly, fluffy one-shot for ya, and he could dance in that. But here…nope, sorry. It just wouldn't have worked. Gomen. And yeah, carpe diem. Thanks for reviewing, hope you like chapter 11.**_

**_Destiny Quill: Wow…you counted the lines? XD Lol, awesome. I know what you mean, I have become confused in so many fanfictions!! (It's like 'who said that?' The mind boggles!) I'm glad to know I'm not causing the same problem:3 And yes, Tala is clearly the taller of the two…I always wonder why people change that…(but, y'know, I sort of established size back in chapter 2 XD oh well, I'm sure no one really remembers chapter 2!) Ooooh noooo, don't hyperventilate! (Puts paper bag over head) Here's a new chapter! Now, BREATHE!! Lol, thanks for lovely review, hope you like this chapter._**

_**DaCow Takao: OMG! (uber-glomp) you so ditzy! It's adorable! (yes, I shall destroy whatever street-cred you have left) Your reviews always make me giggle…you really should take a nap before reading XD You mean amnesia? Yeah that would be like, the final insult. This entire story had no point at all. XD Yay, Scotland is very pretty. You should come visit. (But it's bloody cold. Only Scotland could have such crap weather that it's actually going to get COLDER during global warming.) Ok I hope you like this chapter. If you draw anymore brilliant conclusions, be sure to let me know! Thanks for reviewing!**_

_**Blackdranzergurl: everyone wuvs Kai :3 He's the like the wannabe-tough-guy who everyone just thinks is really sweet! Thank you for your kind words. Hope you like chapter 11!**_

**_Demon TK: relax, I'm writing this review reply while I'm supposed to be studying for my upcoming exams. Y'know, essays and studying can wait. Fanfiction comes first:D And who said they were together? They are just super-cool-buddaroos at da moment…and it seems unlikely to change…because all hell would break loose if it did…(people are weird that way…) Okies, thanks for reviewing, hope you like the chapter._**

**_Celtic Warrior: (gasp) ooh, such conflicting emotions!!! Lol! Yay, I love making people laugh! (And if I ever really made someone cry…that would be an achievement indeed O.O) Yes…Kai is unforgiving in his beliefs…don't worry, I've wanted to be a writer since I was about 7 too ;D Kai's just a meanie. Ok, thank you for reviewing, hope you enjoy new chapter!_**

_**Ok I'd love to reply to everyone, but I'm tired now…**_

**_Thanks also to hurtinphoenix, Jashomara, brat-always-day-and-night, blackkaosrose, Winterblazewolf, Tuli-Susi, gliitch, Neglected Little Girl, Hatsue Cybanne, GabZ, Moon Comix, Nameless Little Girl, jovanni, not the usual baka, ruinsage-sorceress, vines-throughXfate, tacks, KrisSk8Gurl, hunt4me and Kai Hiwatari1. You are the people who light up my little life. _**

_**Disclaimer: Crap, I never wrote one at the start! Ok. I do not and never will own any of the legal rights to Beyblade. I also do not own the rights to Lord of the Rings or Bacardi (fear not, this is actually relevant, I have not just cracked.) There, done.**_

**_Advanced Proclamation of Self-Confessed Ignorance: Ahem. I don't know much about alcoholic beverages. Seriously. I don't drink all that much so I don't know a lot about what other people in my age group would drink at parties. I don't know how many bottles of Bacardi Breezer you'd have to drink to get pissed. So if what I have written concerning the brands and consumption of alcohol is complete and utter numptiness, please just bear with me and laugh at my child-at-heart innocence. Thank you._**

**_Ok…on with the chapter! _**

_**Chapter 11**_

Tala walked unhurriedly down the street in the quiet and soft light of dusk. He wore a plain black shirt, rather loose on him and with the top few buttons left undone, and a pair of well-worn jeans. Contrary to popular belief, he was not the type of person who obsessed for hours over their appearance. Sure, he'd cleaned himself up, but he would have done that anyway, party or no party. He'd also put a new bandage on the injury on his leg, and it felt stiff and uncomfortable as he walked, like a new and unfamiliar shoe. He'd ran a handful of gel through his fiery red hair, but it had still been damp from the shower and he hadn't had the time nor the patience to stand and painstakingly style it, so it currently hung lazily around his face.

Across the park, he could see the bright lights of the rich side of town, where, no doubt, the Jurgens' much-anticipated dinner party was already underway. He scowled and looked away. He was angry. Yeah, he could act light-hearted and cheery around Kai – and it was true that the slate-haired boy's presence did significantly improve his mood – but he really was annoyed, and now that he had spent a few hours alone at home brooding over everything, he felt even more determined to skip the pompous dinner and instead do something stupid and insanely out of character.

Just to get to his parents.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. He must be stupid for even contemplating that his father had been calling him to ask about the match. Since when had the old man cared about that? Why would he have started now?

Damn.

He was walking in the direction of the park gates, but really only as a formality. He didn't really expect Kai to show up. Like the little anomaly had said, twice in one day was really hoping for too much.

He glanced at his watch. Quarter past eight. He supposed he'd just have to settle for being 'fashionably late'.

He reached the gates. He cast a fleeting look around and quickly confirmed that there was no one waiting, grudgingly or otherwise. He gave a small sigh which momentarily blew his trademark twin bangs out of his face (of course, they fluttered back down almost immediately) before going to walk on.

"Well that's rude," came a seemingly bodiless voice, "You ask me to come out here and then just walk on by?"

He recognized that voice…He blinked and looked around, but still saw no one.

"Up here, genius."

He slowly tilted his head backwards and, against the dying light, saw the silhouette of afore-mentioned anomaly sitting quite contently on top of one of the stone pillars on either side of the gate.

"I didn't know fish could climb," was his comment when he finished staring.

Kai snorted and slid down from his perch, landing easily on his feet. Judging by his current attire, he obviously cared even less about getting dressed up than Tala himself. That was not to say he didn't care about his appearance, however; he most was definitely the type of person who never allowed themselves to appear scruffy or unkempt and is always well-presented (in Kai's case, probably out of sheer pride), but never feels the need to be particularly fancy-looking. Which was good, he supposed. For Kai, anyway. He was wearing a simple navy-blue t-shirt – despite the cool evening air - , pale coloured cargo trousers and his customary black Converse. But, y'know, Kai being Kai, he made it look pretty good.

"I see you're as observant as ever," the slate-haired boy commented as they started to walk.

"Well I wasn't really expecting you to be here," he admitted, "I'm still having a hard time believing it."

"Trust me, so am I."

They continued on in surprisingly companionable silence.

Suddenly, Kai stopped in his tracks, crimson eyes narrowed and trained on something.

"What's up…?" Tala questioned in perplexity, trying to see what the problem was.

"You remember your little list of 'suspects'?" Kai said in his ear in a voice so low he could barely hear it, "Suspect number one at twelve o'clock."

He frowned and looked ahead and, sure enough, there was a boy walking towards them, his white coat starkly bright in the gathering dark.

"Who?" he whispered.

"Brooklyn…" Kai replied, lip curling slightly.

Tala couldn't help but laugh quietly. It seemed like this guy was the only person who could get Kai more peeved than he himself.

The other boy drifted along with a sort of dreamy look in his eyes, as if what he saw was not entirely of this world. As he neared them, however, he blinked and gave a charming, if somewhat indolent, smile.

"My, my, Kai, fancy meeting you here," he said merrily, "I haven't seen you in school lately. I've missed you."

Something about his tone suggested underlying sarcasm, but it wasn't obvious enough that anything could be said about it. Kai's eye visibly twitched in annoyance.

"Of course I can't really say the same about the teachers…" Brooklyn continued with a light laugh, "Although, Minagawa-sensei has been asking after you. So what are you up to this fine evening? Not studying? Tut, tut."

"…"

Tala felt that he should step in here, since Kai looked liable to take a swing at the other boy at any given moment.

"The soccer team won their match today; there's a celebration party going on tonight," he interjected, "We were just heading over. It's no invites, so you could go too if you wanted."

If the look Kai gave him at that precise moment had been present in the Shire shortly after Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday, Frodo would not have needed to travel all the way to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.

"Oh no, I really have no time for silly frivolity," Brooklyn said pleasantly, "I was just on my way to the park to feed the birds…I'll see you both in school on Monday."

And with that he went through the park gates and drifted off in his own little world again.

They walked on a little way in silence before Kai snapped.

"_Damnit, _I just can't stand talking to him!" he groaned, scuffing his feet on the pavement, "I don't know _what _it is about him, there's just _something _there that _really _pisses me off…"

"Relax, I get it," Tala laughed, "By the way, who's Minagawa-sensei…?"

"The one teacher who hasn't written me off as a lost cause yet," he replied irritably, "I wish she'd just give up."

"Not everyone in the world is just going to give up on you, Kai," he said teasingly, "I thought you'd have realized that by now."

"Hn…"

To say that you heard the party before you saw it would be a blatant understatement. About three streets away they could almost feel the pavement vibrating from the blast of the music, and whilst the nearby houses were settling down to watch late-evening television, the house they were heading for was very much alive and kicking, with every light in the place turned on, and apparent hired disco lights periodically shooting beams of coloured radiance out into the street.

They stood beyond the front lawn for a moment, both blinking dazedly as their senses attempted to adjust to the new brightness and shocking sound-waves. The party was evidently already in full swing, and through the windows they could see vast numbers of people dancing, chatting and…well, drinking and making out. What else would you expect from a teen rave-up?

"Maybe…we should follow the example of the garden flamingos…" Kai said slowly, "And just stay out here."

"Come along, my little anti-social compadre," Tala said, rolling his eyes and making for the front door, "Let's see how you cope amongst our fellow life-forms."

Kai gave a sigh and followed.

"Hey, it's the man of the match," Michael called, spotting them as they entered, "Tala, you're late, man."

"Sorry," he said, obligingly performing the offered high-five.

"No problem. This thing ain't gonna finish any time soon anyway," the older boy laughed, "Drinks are in the kitchen if you want some."

"Thanks."

He realized he'd (already) lost Kai. Looking around, he eventually located him, standing up against a wall, looking very much out of his comfort-zone, with a very drunk-looking girl slurring things Tala would rather not think about in his ear. His facial expression was passive as per usual, but the slight twist to his mouth gave away his distaste and, though he'd never in a billion years admit it, nervousness.

"Sorry, miss," Tala said, detaching the intoxicated girl from her target, "He's still sober, and I doubt he'll even crack a smile until he's drunk."

She looked at him blankly for a moment before giving a raucous laugh, during which time he took the opportunity to spirit his rather frightened looking companion off to the kitchen.

"I…should not…have come here," Kai said, glaring at him, "And you should not have told me to."

"Well I'm very sorry, but I thought that it would be wise to introduce you to the world of socializing before you become a complete hermit," he said, rolling his eyes.

There was a worryingly wide selection of alcoholic beverages laid out on the island in the centre of the kitchen. After a moment of browsing, Tala picked himself out a bottle of Bacardi Breezer, not even bothering to check which flavour it was. He had decided that staying sober was not high on his priority list tonight.

"What's your poison?" he enquired of Kai.

Upon receiving no reply, he turned around and saw that his cohort was staring fixedly out of the nearby window. Following his gaze, he could see some unfortunate guy who, apparently unable to hold his drink, was vomiting heavily in the back garden.

"'Poison' being the key word here," the slate-haired boy said dryly, turning away from the unpleasant spectacle, "I think I'll pass."

"Suit yourself," he said with a shrug, opening his own bottle and taking a gulp. He smiled slightly at the sensation of it in his throat and the warm feeling that almost immediately started to spread through his body.

"I don't see the great attraction of alcohol…" Kai said as a rowdy group of (yes, probably drunken) seniors half-swaggered, half-staggered by.

"Sometimes people like to lose control a little, I think," Tala replied, continuing to down his bottle, "It gets stressful after a while, following your own little routine and having to be rational every moment of every day."

"I don't know about other people, but following a routine and being rational make up a rather large chunk of my existence," the other boy said irritably, "I don't feel the need, or the desire, to do otherwise. I especially don't feel the need to consume a substance that will make me totally disorientated, confused and not entirely in my right mind."

"Yeah, but that's cos the thought of not being completely in control scares you," he pointed out, earning himself a scathing glare.

"I would not be scared by something so trivial," Kai snapped, "I'm just responsible enough to-"

"Quieten down, lovie," Tala chuckled, having to resist the urge to pat him on the head (since he would probably lose his hand in the process), "Nobody's judging you."

Kai gave him a seething look for a long moment but did fall silent, albeit grumpily so, folding his arms and closing his eyes and leaning backwards against the kitchen island. Tala just laughed at him again and, having made short work of his first drink, quickly reached for another.

"So what do you think of Brooklyn?" he asked nonchalantly, cracking the bottle open.

"I thought I made my feelings on that subject quite clear…" Kai said, one eye opening a slit to peer at him with that all-too-familiar 'are you stupid?' expression.

"No, I meant about the diary, not in general," he explained, "Do you think he wrote it?"

"It's possible…" the dual-haired boy shrugged, "Out of the list of possible candidates I'd say he was one of the most likely. As you may have noticed, he is not entirely normal."

Tala almost choked on his drink.

"Look who's talking," he gasped between splutters, "You aren't exactly the epitome of regularity."

"Well neither are you."

"Eh? How am I strange?"

"You found a random diary lying on the floor of your school about half a week ago. Ever since then you have thought of nothing else."

"Ok, granted…hey, wait, I've thought about you as well!"

"Well if you don't mention that fact to a single living soul, neither will I."

Tala suddenly realized what his last comment may have implied and so started laughing again. Kai rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Red," Bryan said, suddenly appearing holding a bottle that looked like it contained something dangerously potent, "Good game today, huh?"

"Oh yeah," he agreed, "No doubt the coach'll be pleased."

"How's the leg?" his lilac-haired friend asked, indicating in the general direction of his injury.

"It's fine."

Spencer also appeared, looking – like Kai – as if he wasn't planning on consuming anything tonight that would fill his brain-cells with toxins.

"How did the trial go?" he asked, indicating to Kai. Tala laughed headily, downing another draught from his bottle.

"Tragically, it had to be postponed," he said, "Due to unforeseen circumstances."

"I'm not even going to ask…" the blonde said, shaking his head. He then turned to Kai and continued, "Hey, if he gets too drunk tonight…" he pointed to Tala, "Please do me a favour and drag him somewhere in the vicinity of his own home."

"Pft, cos you have your hands full with Bryan, right?" Tala laughed. Spencer nodded.

"Yes, and I'm reasonably sure that Ian's around here somewhere too…" he said, looking from side to side as if wondering where his (much shorter) friend could be.

"Must suck being the responsible one," Tala said.

"Not really, I'm the only one without a splitting hangover in the morning…" Spencer said with a shrug, "Now I should probably go and look for Ian. People are getting drunk enough to be stepping on him without noticing…"

He went off in search. Bryan had wandered off a few moments previously to watch a fight that had broken out in the hallway, so they were left alone again. Tala drained the last of his drink and immediately reached for another, suddenly realizing that all he wanted to do tonight was get so drunk that he could just forget all the stupid pressures and parents and all that shit and maybe just _enjoy _himself for once.

To his surprise, Kai slapped his hand away from the bottles.

"Idiot, what are you doing?" he hissed, "If you end up barfing in the garden, don't think I'll be there holding your hair out of the way."

"Holy shit, live a little, Hiwatari," he growled in annoyance, pulling his hand away, "You should probably be the one drinking, it might loosen you up a little."

"Yeah, _one _might 'loosen me up'," he said angrily, "Then two, three, four, five will get me pissed out of my head and leave me with a killer hangover the next day."

"Have you ever even _had _a drink?" he found himself asking, astonished by his own mocking tone.

"Of course I have, but I've never gone to a party with the sole intention of getting completely wasted so I can stop feeling sorry for myself," he snapped.

Tala blinked, unaware that his objective had been so clear. He then felt a small pang of guilt as he realized Kai was right – he really shouldn't be doing this – and was only trying to help in his own little way.

And maybe…maybe it wasn't really fair to Kai if he got totally smashed. He had been the one who had made him come to this thing - he probably didn't know anyone else here - and if he was lying unconscious somewhere or staggering about like an idiot, what kind of company would he be?

He picked up two bottles of light beer from the table and opened them. Kai folded his arms again and looked away, making his disapproval clear. He blinked when one of the bottles was shoved under his nose. He looked back to Tala quizzically.

"One, to 'loosen you up'," he said cheerily, "And since I'm a hardened drinker, I need three. But that's all. No more after this, k?"

Kai eyed him suspiciously. He gave a melodramatic sigh.

"Ok, to prove it to you, we shall leave the kitchen," he said, making for the door, "To lift me from temptation."

They somehow managed to squeeze their way through the crowd in the hallway (the audience for the afore-mentioned brawl) and eventually found themselves in the living room. By some uncanny miracle the sofa was not currently infested with love-sick couples, so they sat themselves down there.

"…Just drink up, huh?" Tala said when he noticed Kai was just looking at the bottle in his hands as if it were liable to explode, "It's only, like, five percent. You're not gonna puke or pass out from one bottle. Besides, I want to see what you're like when you're not wound up so damn tight."

Kai frowned but obeyed and took a long gulp.

Time went by and, astonishingly, the slate-haired boy did seem to 'loosen up' a little, although whether or not it was due to the alcohol was debatable, since he didn't appear to have drank very much of it. Tala could feel the substance starting to fuzz his brain, but only a little, and in a good way. He felt relaxed, which was rare, and he wasn't thinking about anything besides the 'now', wasn't worrying about tomorrow, and that was rarer still.

Conversation became easy between them. The drink, whilst it may not have fazed his mind in any way, seemed to have lowered Kai's guard to some extent, and he seemed more inclined to talk, and somehow less serious, though he never smiled or laughed.

The topic of discussion, of course, quickly found its way quickly back round to the diary.

"So, any concrete ideas who our mystery man – or woman – is?" Tala asked. Kai gazed reflectively at the ceiling for a moment.

"Whoever they are…" he said slowly, "I think they're an _arty _sort of person."

"What led you to that conclusion?" he enquired in amusement, awaiting a spout of Kai-logic that promised to make him laugh.

"It's their handwriting," he said, nodding, "It's neat, but it's all sort of…loopy, I dunno. They have loops on their 'y's' and 'g's' and stuff, y'know? Kind of fancy. Arty."

"Ooook…" he said, smile alighting his face, "So what kind of person does that make you, then?"

"Hm?"

"If an arty person has loopy handwriting, what kind of person are you?"

"Oh…logical, I guess. Mathematical."

"So what kind of handwriting does that call for?"

"Pretty standard, really. No loops, no twirls. Um…"

He fumbled in his pocket for something, eventually extracting a pen. He took it in his right hand and wrote something on the back of his left hand.

"Like that, see?" he said, holding out the handwriting sample. Upon examining it, Tala could see it was indeed very plain and simple, no adornments, quite small, painfully neat. And all he'd written was 'Kai Hiwatari'. It wasn't dissimilar to his own handwriting, but that made sense, he'd already known that he was a 'man of science', with little or no talent for art.

"The writer did mention art in one entry," he said, remembering, "Said it was one of the few subjects they found bearable."

"There you go, then," Kai said, "We have an angsty, very likely Emo, artist on our hands."

"Like you're one to talk about being Emo," he laughed.

"Shut up…" Kai muttered, but his normally cold eyes danced with something akin to humour, and the heat of the room had given his pale face a delicate flush, and he looked a lot less severe, a lot more…what, laid-back? It crossed Tala's mind that he might actually be enjoying himself too.

However, the humour and light-hearted banter vanished abruptly a moment later. Kai suddenly fell stonily silent and cast his eyes downwards, hands fidgeting slightly in his lap. Wondering what the problem was, Tala glanced up and realized there was a girl standing next to the sofa, looking at the two of them shyly. Her short, wavy hair was a turquoise colour, and her heart-shaped face framed two large, childish tawny eyes. He vaguely recognized her from school. What was her name? Mimi, Ming-Ming, something like that?

"Something up?" he asked, since it was obvious Kai wasn't going to speak up.

"Oh, um…" she said, fiddling with the hem of her mini-dress, "I was just wondering if…um…Kai, could I talk to you for a second…maybe?"

Kai opened his mouth, looking ready to give an outright 'No' but then changed his mind and shut it again. At length he shrugged.

"Alright," he said, looking at her expectantly.

There was a deafening silence. Tala rolled his eyes.

"I think she meant _in private?_" he suggested.

"Yes," she piped up, "Um, outside, if that's ok."

Kai gave a silent sigh. Tala leaned over and hissed in his ear.

"Look, if you don't like her, no one's telling you to start dating her," he said, "But at least pretend to be a gentleman and turn her down politely, huh?"

Kai turned and looked at him, and for a fleeting second he was surprised by the emotion that flitted across his face; a look something like despair, as if he was being forced down an unpleasant path to an equally unpleasant destination. Then he quickly composed himself, and took a deep gulp from his bottle, as if in preparation for something.

"Fine," he said, getting to his feet. The girl smiled sweetly and led him out the front door. There was no door between living room and hallway – the wall had been knocked through to create an open plan – so Tala could see them all the way until they were outside. He snorted to himself once they'd gone. Pretty much any other guy here would have been ecstatic if a girl like Ming-Ming had approached them, and yet Kai made talking to her look like such a chore.

At first he sat quite patiently, expecting them only to take a few minutes or so, but after a full twenty minutes had passed he started to wonder where on earth they had got to. Judging by Kai's behaviour, he obviously had no interest in the girl, so why was he taking so long to just 'let her down gently' (or not so gently, as it probably was)? He fidgeted in boredom but resigned himself to waiting.

Another ten minutes went by, and he found himself starting to feel almost worried.

Just then, the front door opened. He looked up, but it was just Johnny McGregor and his surrounding group of thugs, apparently just arriving. Better late than never, he supposed.

Then he noticed a head of cyan hair bobbing along next to Johnny.

He frowned and looked closer.

Yes…it was definitely Ming-Ming.

She looked different, though. The innocence and cuteness were gone, and for a brief moment he struggled to remember whether Ming-Ming had a sister, because she looked almost like a completely different person. She was laughing along with Johnny and the others, and they were all laughing in a way that somehow seemed horribly cruel.

H started to get a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Shit…" he murmured, the warm and fuzzy feeling from the alcohol rapidly dissipating.

Johnny turned his head in his direction, and he blinked as he saw that he looked like he'd been in a bad car wreck. He had a bandage over one eye and several plasters over the rest of his face, and most of the skin left exposed was purple with bruises.

Tala suddenly felt rather sick as a memory came crashing into his mind.

"_You didn't do a very good job of defending yourself. You look a little worse for wear."_

"_If you think I look a mess…wait until you see the one who took it upon himself to start it."_

"_Who was it?"_

"…_I'll let you guess."_

His breath caught in his throat. Johnny's injuries looked a few days old…just like Kai's…so that meant…but Kai was out there now…

"Oh, shiiiiiiiit!" he blurted out before making a run for the front door.

* * *

_**Ok…I'm pretty annoyed…this chapter and what will now be chapter 12 were supposed to be one chapter. But it was dragging on for so long (15 pages on Microsoft Word, and nowhere near finished!) that I realized I would have to split it. So there's a possibility that there's going to be sixteen chapters now (Sob) Curses, I did not anticipate such a long party! Ah well. Cest la vie. I'll get over it. **_

_**The good news is that chapter 12 is about a quarter done already, since it was originally part of this chapter.**_

_**Ok, m'dears, tell me what you think!**_

_**Until next time…**_

_**Fiver x**_


	12. Chapter 12

…_**Ok, so this chapter took a little longer than I expected.**_

_**I had exams. For once, I had to prioritize. But they're finished now, so hopefully I can brush the dust off all my fics and start updating a little more frequently…but I am in 'senior school' now so I'll probably get a lot more homework XD So don't get your hopes too high!**_

_**I also find myself losing interest in the Beyblade fandom…too many bloody Mary Sues and fics without spell-check (we all make mistakes, but COME ON, you must have seen some of these fics!) I promise to finish whatever I have uploaded (except maybe my earlier fics…they MAY die) but…who knows, I might not write any more Beyblade.**_

_**I think this chapter is extra-long…hope it makes up for the long, cruel wait. **_

_**Thanks for all your lovely reviews! I'm afraid I can't do replies this chapter…I am getting kicked off the computer, and I really want this chapter up tonight. But thank you, I love you all. Seriously. It's creepy, but true.**_

**_Warning: this chapter hasn't been checked over as carefully as the others...in fact, I haven't even had a chance to properly proof-read it. But I wanted it uploaded. So if it's really bad, or there are a lot of errors, I'm sorry!_**

_**Chapter 12**_

The front garden was suspiciously empty. Usually there would be at least a few people out here, catching a breath of fresh air, stuff like that. Why was it so quiet?

"…Kai?" he called out into the darkness, voice sounding uncharacteristically nervous. He looked from left to right, but the slate-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Damnit, Kai!" he called again, the bubble of anxiety in his chest very real now.

Just then he heard a sound coming from around the side of the house and, sure enough, his lost comrade emerged a moment later. He had his head down, bangs shadowing his face.

"There you are," Tala said in relief, "I was worried."

Kai shrugged.

"…Where's your girlfriend?" he asked innocently, wanting to hear what Kai would tell him.

"She went back inside," he said shortly, "I'm tired. I'm going home now."

He went to walk past Tala, but the red-head unexpectedly shot out a hand and caught his chin, pushing his head up so his face was in the orange glare of the street lights.

His eyes went wide.

Kai almost immediately pulled away, but it was too late. He had seen the damage.

"…It was Johnny, wasn't it?" Tala asked quietly, looking at the blood left on his hand from that one brief touch, "Johnny and his bunch of brutes."

Kai made no reply, but he knew it was true. He took his face in both hands now, tilting his dual-toned head back so he could more closely examine what the bastards had done to his face. Kai went rigid at the human contact and wouldn't meet his gaze, cheeks burning with anger or shame.

He was messed up badly. There was a lot of blood, so much that he couldn't easily pick out separate injuries in the semi-dark. At the very least he could tell that his mouth had taken a fair few knocks, since a lot of the red liquid seemed to be coming from that area, and also that he must have been battered on the head because there was a trickle of blood seeping down his temple from his hairline.

"You knew, didn't you?" Tala asked despondently, "As soon as that girl appeared, you knew they'd sent her."

Kai gave a barely discernable nod.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

No reply.

"Why didn't you call out?" he demanded, taking him by the shoulders now and shaking him slightly, "Damnit, why didn't you shout for me to come?"

Kai's breath hitched for a moment, as if he was trying to hold something in, a cry, an answer, who knows? He clamped his mouth shut firmly and didn't reply, still not looking at him.

He growled and released his shoulders, pushing him away slightly in the process.

"Wait here," he ordered, "If I come back and you've moved a bloody inch there'll be hell to pay."

He went back inside the house. He briefly considered finding Johnny, killing him and burying him in the back garden, but then forced himself to stay on-task.

"Hey, Michael," he said after locating said senior, "Great party, but I have to go now. Thanks for inviting me along."

"You're leaving? Already?" he questioned, "It's barely past ten. Your parents got a curfew on you or something?"

He smiled dryly.

"No, it's…" he started uncertainly, "It's a friend of mine. He got a bit beat up. I have to go and piece him back together."

"Picked a fight, did he?" Michael laughed.

"No, he didn't," he said, "Like I said…he got a bit beat up."

Michael's and the surrounding seniors' expressions turned stony.

"Somebody being a smart-ass, huh?" Steve, Michael's quarter-back friend, asked.

"If only. Seems it was a whole bunch of somebodies."

"A gang? Ok, I hate that," Michael said, "Any idea who it was?"

"McGregor."

There was a collective groan.

"Can't stand that kid," Steve affirmed, "Way too big for his boots."

"Well, maybe we could take him down a peg or two," Michael suggested, cracking his knuckles.

"Don't put yourselves to trouble," Tala said, "Maybe I'll set Bryan on him…I'm sure that'd shut him up."

"I'm sure it would," Eddie, the school's star basketball player said, "But if Johnny knows you and your friend got other people looking out for you, he'll think twice before lifting a hand to you."

"I guess…"

"Here," Michael said, handing him a six-pack of beers, "For your buddy. If Johnny's gang got him, he'll probably need it."

"Thanks a lot."

"No problem. And don't worry, we'll even the score."

Tala managed to navigate his way through the crowded house and back out into the dark. Kai had started to move uncertainly down the garden path towards the street.

"Didn't I tell you not to move?" he snapped, catching his arm. As if sensing that pulling away would only succeed in making the red-head angrier, Kai didn't complain.

"Walk," he ordered, steering him in the direction of his house.

The walk was silent, and uncomfortably so. It was also slow, since right now Kai seemed more inclined to limp than walk. Tala knew that the slate-haired boy must have been in a significant amount of pain, but somehow he felt that he deserved it. He wasn't quite sure why he was in this frame of mind, but he was currently too angry to really think much about it.

They reached the house, which seemed uncannily dark and quiet after the sensory blast of the party. As they entered and removed their shoes, Kai once again pushed his into the corner, one on top of the other, as if trying to minimize the evidence of his existence. Normally this would have piqued Tala's curiosity, but now it merely irritated him.

"…Why are we here?" Kai asked finally, looking distinctly uncomfortable (and, of course, still in a lot of pain).

"I'm here because I live here," he said briskly, pushing him towards the kitchen, "You are here because I get a feeling like you'd refuse to go to Accident and Emergency. Sit."

He pushed him onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar before proceeding to search the cupboards for medical supplies.

"It's fine," Kai mumbled, "I can go home and fix myself up."

"You wouldn't make it to the end of the street," he said flatly, finding a promising-looking tin, "I'm surprised you made it this far."

"I'm fine," he insisted, starting to get to his feet.

"Shut up and sit _down,_" he shouted, fixing him with an icy glare, the anger he had been trying to restrain getting the better of him. Kai's eyes went wide for a moment in sheer shock, then he bowed his head and meekly obeyed. Having never really seen Tala's stormy side before, he apparently didn't know quite how to respond to it.

Said red-head sighed in frustration and pulled the lid of the tin. As he had suspected it contained a first-aid kit. He extracted a soft cloth and ran it under the cold tap for a few seconds.

"Let's have a look, then…" he muttered, half to himself, as he turned on the kitchen light. He saw that Kai had his hands cupped in his lap, to catch the droplets of blood trickling down his face and off the end of his chin. At the sudden bright light he lifted his head, blinking, and Tala found he had to dim the lights again, because he could hardly bear to see him in such a state.

"Hold still," he ordered, tilting his face upwards again and carefully wiping away as much blood as he could with the cloth, perhaps more to just pinpoint where the actual injuries were than to clean him up. Kai endured this with little complaint, only shuddering and wincing slightly when the material brushed against an open wound. When he was finished – by which time the cloth was stained various shades of pink and red all over – he took a few wads of cotton wool and soaked them in strong-smelling antiseptic fluid.

"This'll sting," he said bluntly, dabbing the liquid onto the cuts none-too-gently. Kai immediately flinched and instinctively tried to turn his head away.

"Hold _still_," he said again, annoyance mounting even though a part of him knew that it must hurt a lot.

"Just leave it…" Kai tried again, half-heartedly attempting to bat his hands away.

"Like you'd ever forgive me if your pretty face got all infected and scarred," he snapped, "Just shut it and, for God's sake, hold still."

He continued in his interrupted task, knowing that he was being too rough but feeling too pissed off to care much. Kai endured it as best he could, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists. Tala then noticed that he was also biting down hard on his already bleeding lower lip. Despite himself, the pity his anger had been trying to keep at bay came to the fore.

"Hey, hey, don't do that," he said in alarm, stopping what he was doing. Kai looked at him quizzically.

"Your mouth's busted enough already. Don't make it worse," he said, touching his fingers to said mouth, indicating that he wanted him to stop mangling it. He did so. Tala suddenly realized that his lip wasn't actually bleeding from the outside.

"Oh God…" he said quietly, "They didn't even hit you there, did they? You bit it yourself."

Kai wouldn't look at him. He continued applying the antiseptic, albeit much more gently.

"How did you manage to bite it so badly?" he asked.

"Well I don't know, do I?" he replied, hissing slightly as the cotton pad brushed a cut on his cheekbone.

"On that soccer pitch today, when that idiot tackled me…" he said, "I'll be honest with you: I bit my lip to stop myself from screaming. But…" he paused, "I didn't even break the skin."

Kai looked up at him almost apologetically. He sighed sadly.

"Damnit, Kai, why didn't you shout for me?" he implored again.

"…Would you have shouted?" Kai asked, "Would you have screamed for help? Would you have let them know they were hurting you?"

"I think they knew they were hurting you," he said, peeling the back off a band-aid and placing it carefully over the cut on his cheekbone.

"I didn't give them the satisfaction of seeing it."

"…Did you even fight back?" he asked after a pause and, having finished patching up his face, turning his head so he could look for the wound under his hair.

"No…" he said vaguely, "I know when the odds aren't in my favour. Fighting back would only have made it- ow, what the hell?"

"Sorry," he said, realizing his hand had bumped the very wound he was looking for, "Still, couldn't you have put up some sort of fight? Even if just to give you a chance to get away?"

"No," he said again, "One of them pulled a knife…you don't mess around when someone has a knife."

There was a silence. Tala sank into the stool next to him.

"…A knife," he repeated.

"Yeah," Kai said, disturbingly unfazed.

"Holy _shit, _those bastards! Did they cut you? Cos if they did, so help me…"

"They didn't," Kai told him, "He said if I tried to run he would. I didn't know if he actually had it in him to use it. Probably not. But it wasn't a risk I was eager to take."

"No, indeed not…" Tala said, recovering somewhat from his shock and starting to gingerly clean the head wound, "I'm glad you have at least that much common sense."

"I have plenty common sense," Kai said.

"Yeah…" he said despondently, "More than me."

"Why say that?" Kai asked, nonplussed and looking almost disappointed that their lapse back into their usual bickering banter had faded so quickly.

"It was my fault, really, wasn't it?" he said, "I made you come to that stupid party…then that girl…you looked like something was wrong, I should've known…then I sat for, like, half an hour wondering where you were…I never even _thought…_" he laughed dryly, "I guess you were right all those times you called me stupid."

"You are stupid…" Kai said, genteel as ever, "But that doesn't make it your fault. If they hadn't got me tonight, it would have been tomorrow, or the day after that. Johnny picked a fight with me, and I nearly hospitalised him. I bruised his pride along with his face…he wasn't going to quieten down until he got me back."

Somehow his calm acceptance of his fate only made Tala feel worse.

"I…I wanted to prove to you that being around people could be a good thing," he confessed, "That it could be fun, and not everyone was out to hurt you. Pft, I don't think I've ever failed so miserably."

"You didn't fail," Kai said plaintively, "I know there are people not out to hurt me, and I know some people won't just give up on me, even though I'm a hopeless case."

He raised an eyebrow, laughing softly despite himself.

"And how did I show you that?" he asked.

"Well I'm reasonably sure _you're_ not going to bruise my face…" he said, looking away awkwardly, "And I _know _without a doubt that, no matter what I do, you'll refuse to…give up on me."

Tala looked at him in amazement.

"It's pretty annoying, actually," he concluded, just to ruin the nice moment. Tala laughed out loud.

"I like to think so," he said, going over to the freezer and taking out the tray of ice-cubes. He whacked it on the edge of the sink until a few fell out, and wrapped them in a cloth.

"Here," he said, handing the cold package to his war-torn companion, "This might keep the bruising down to some extent."

"Not likely…" Kai snorted, taking the icepack anyway, "…Thanks."

Tala feigned a heart-attack.

"What is this?" he gasped, holding a hand to his ear, "Do I hear thanks? Do I hear gratitude? Do I hear appreciation?"

"No," Kai said plaintively, trying to look intimidating but failing slightly since he had an icepack over half his face.

"Of course not…" he said in amusement, leaning backwards against the counter. It annoyed him to a slight extent that they were back on easy terms again…somehow he felt the other deserved to be in the bad books for a little longer. But, then again, maybe a bust face was punishment enough.

"Come on," he said, throwing him a can from the pack Michael had endorsed him with, "I've been stressed out enough tonight. Let's just get smashed."

"I'll drink to that…" Kai mumbled, cracking the can open and raising it. Tala returned the gesture before downing a gulp.

"What happened to your morals?" he asked teasingly.

"They got kind of battered," Kai replied with a solemn nod.

"…Let's go watch TV," Tala said suddenly, deciding he wanted to watch something totally crap which did not require any amount of thought at all.

"Whatever…"

The slate-haired boy got carefully to his feet, wincing as he did so.

"What's up?" Tala asked, already half-way to the door.

"It's nothing," was the oh-so-surprising reply.

"No, what's up?" he repeated, crossing the room to stand directly in front of him. Kai glared at him for a moment before sighing in resignation.

"It's nothing to worry about," he said, "It's just…oh, bloody hell, how many times in your life have you been beaten up?"

"Not many, I'll admit," Tala said, eyebrow raised.

"Well, I should probably let you know…they don't just mess up your face," he said, grimacing slightly.

"What do you mean?" he asked in slight alarm.

"Basically most of my body is in a significant amount of pain," he said plaintively, "But there's nothing you can do about it, so-"

"Ah, shut up and lemme see," he said impatiently.

"What are you, a nurse? Give me a break!"

"Why couldn't they have knocked some sense into that teeny brain of yours?" Tala 'wondered' out loud, ruffling up the other's hair in a very annoying manner. Kai yelped in surprise and irritation, trying to scramble to freedom.

"Just hurry up," Tala said, "I can't get drunk with a clear conscience until I know you aren't gonna pass out or die or something."

Kai, grumbling obscenities Tala was quite glad he couldn't hear, set his icepack down on the breakfast bar and tugged up the front of his shirt, looking down to examine the damage himself.

"Ouch," Tala winced, seeing the extensive bruising spreading its way across his abdomen.

"Yeah, slightly," Kai replied dully, "Happy now?"

"Not in the slightest," he said, "What were those bastards wearing, steel-toed boots? I am not kidding, I may _actually _kill one of them…"

"Don't waste your time," he told him, rolling his eyes, "Are you done now? See, it's just bruising. Nothing you can do."

"Meh…I could always put an ice-pack on it," he 'suggested', picking said ice-pack up off the dresser. Kai retreated a few steps.

"Do so and I might have to hurt you," he said warningly.

"Yeah, sure," he laughed, laying the ice pack down again, "You just got your ass kicked and didn't even bother fighting back. I don't exactly feel scared of you."

Kai's only response was to snatch up said ice-pack, remove an ice cube from it and throw it at him in a rather childish manner. It caught him on the side of the head and he yelled some obscenity, more from surprise than anything else. Kai shifted away slightly, as if expecting a blow.

However, all he got was a happy, if astonished, laugh.

"Retaliation?" Tala said, eyebrows raised, "I sure didn't see that coming."

Kai stared dubiously, as if unable to believe he was getting away with his momentary slip in composure.

"Ah, you keep me amused, Hiwatari," Tala said, shaking his head and opening the kitchen door.

Moments later, they were both seated on the living-room sofa with some pointless sitcom blaring in the background (which, incidentally, neither of them was watching). Kai was sitting cross-legged, staring absently at the can in his hands, as if he had just fully realized where he was and what he was doing and was wondering why.

"What's up with you?" Tala asked, letting his head recline backwards and shutting his eyes lazily.

"It's…been a while since I just…did something for no reason," the slate-haired boy said slowly, "For…'fun'."

"You need to get out more, Hiwatari," he yawned.

A few hours passed, and the supply of alcohol diminished at an alarming rate. In possible connection to this, they both gradually forgot their pains of the evening, and conversation flowed easily (or easy in comparison to what it was like normally talking to Kai).

"So why did they shut your old school, again?" Tala asked, "Not enough students attending?"

Kai looked at him blankly.

"What?" he asked.

"Ian said there were a lot of new students just now because a nearby school got closed."

"Oh…I didn't come from there."

"Oh, right…you transferred?"

"Yeah. Just unfortunate coincidence that I came at the same time as the rest."

"So why did you move? Get expelled?"

"No…" he said vaguely, looking past him, "It was a family thing."

"…Ah."

He decided it might be tactful not to pursue that topic.

There was a short silence.

"I just realized something," Tala said at length, looking surprised.

"Your parents are going to come home and find us pissed?"

"Fortunately, no."

"Ok, what?"

"In the whole time I've known you, you've _never _smiled."

Kai blinked.

"You really do think weird things," he said, looking bewildered.

"But it's true! Don't you _ever _smile? Or laugh? Or anything?"

Kai shrugged.

"Not without reason," he said ambiguously.

"What kind of answer is that? Is there ever a reason?"

He felt kind of glad that Kai had consumed some amount of alcohol. If he hadn't, he probably would have knocked him unconscious by now. As it was, he just shrugged again, which gave him the confidence to continue his teasing.

"Come on, I want to see it. Smile!"

"No," Kai replied immediately, but his eyes gave away his amusement. It was strange…with most people, a little too much to drink clouded their eyes, giving away their disorientation and dulled senses. With Kai, it seemed to do nothing more than lower the protective walls, allowing his crimson eyes to be temporarily unguarded with a surprisingly varied amount of emotion on display.

"Go on, just this once. Or will your face crack?"

"No."

"Don't make me start telling jokes, cos I'm _really _bad at it."

"I can imagine."

"Come _on, _it won't kill you!"

"No!"

But he had a hand covering his face, pretty much giving away the fact that he was struggling not to laugh.

"I think I'm win-ning," Tala taunted, enjoying this game thoroughly.

"Idiot," Kai said. It was dark now, the only light coming from the intermittent flashes from the TV screen, but Tala could see that he had given in.

"Aww, lookit you," he grinned, "All smiley and sunny and-"

"Shut _up_," Kai ordered. Tala could tell what he was going through…the more you try _not _to smile, the less your face seems to be at your command.

"Lemme guess," he said, "I'm stupid?"

"Nngh…" Kai mumbled, "I really should stop saying that."

"Nah, it's fine," he replied, "You're probably right."

"No, no, you need to listen to this now 'cos I'll deny it all once I'm sober again," he said.

"Ok…" he said, amused, "Make your case."

He took a deep breath.

"I…don't really think you're stupid. I don't think you're an idiot. I know you won't give up on me, and as of a little while ago, I don't think I actually _want _you to."

Tala blinked, stupefied. Of all the things he had expected the other boy to come out with, this had been very near the bottom of the list. He looked gravely serious, and a touch melancholy, to his surprise.

"I don't hate you, I don't even want you to leave me alone anymore. I don't know if I _like _you, cos I've kinda forgotten what that's like…"

"Kai, it's ok," he said gently, "You don't need to say all this…"

"But I do," he said dejectedly, "I can't say it when I'm in my usual mood. I can't say nice things cos I don't know how. I just…"

He fell silent. Tala saw that, behind the slight glaze on his crimson eyes, they were as sharp as ever.

"You see the best in people," the slate-haired boy concluded, "That's it. You're not an idiot. You don't let yourself be fooled by the masks people wear. Normally it's when people pretend to be good, that's why you hate all those people…but…"

"But with _you_…" Tala finished for him, "You were pretending to be bad."

"Pretending?" Kai said with a slight laugh, "I'm not sure about that."

"You're not bad," he said definitely, "You're not."

"Heh…I'll take your word for it…"

He yawned.

"Nngh…I really _am _tired now," he mumbled, curling up on the sofa in a way that was somehow adorable.

"What time do you need to be home by?" Tala asked him, smiling slightly.

"Whenever," he said, voice slightly muffled, "No one's expecting me."

He felt a small jolt of surprise and misgiving at this reply, but decided to let it slide.

"You can crash here, then, if you want," he said, feeling sleepy himself.

"Nn…" was the 'reply'.

Morning would find them both sprawled across the sofa, comfortably asleep in each other's presence.

* * *

_**End of chapter 12. Oh hoorah.**_

_**Ugh…that last scene REALLY didn't come out the way I wanted it to.**_

_**Oh well…at least it's there, I guess. :3**_

_**Sorry if this wasn't worth the incredibly long wait…**_

_**I'll try and do better next time!**_

_**(Gaspeth) Three (or…maybe four) chapters left to go. Ooh I'm sadly excited. **_

_**Please review!**_

_**Fiver**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Hey everyone :D**_

_**Guess what, guys?**_

_**I passed my exams. **_

_**SING! DANCE! MAKE NOISE!**_

_**NO MORE STUDYING!!! **_

_**Well, not until I go back to school. And then the whole cycle starts all over again.**_

_**But I'm so happy to be back…and SO happy to be almost finished this! I'm so excited! I've never actually finished a fanfic before! (Besides that one-shot I did, but that doesn't count.)**_

_**Ok, for all you people who've been wondering, the diary IS in this chapter. (Insert shifty eyes)**_

_**Also, someone reviewed and said that I contradicted myself with the whole 'group' thing, because Tala and Michael seem quite familiar and come from different 'groups'. So let me explain how the group thing works. There are separate groups, but there is also the infamous pyramid system. If you're on the same level of the pyramid, the groups sort of mingle. As for Tala and Michael, they're both school sport stars in this fic. So really they aren't that different. So I'm not actually talking crap. **_

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. That is GreenBinderGirl, claire, Lola Clarkson, Jashomara, Part-Time-Pyromaniac, Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover, Red, DancerInTheDark101, black panther warrior, Famous4it, GabZ, Destiny Quill, SchoolBoredom, Moon Comix, WETWINZ, Maiyuka, Slightly Sinister Sinestra, Nameless Little Girl, hunt4me, Bellaria, Winterblazewolf, gliitch, Tuli-Susi, KrisSk8Gurl, jinx, Kai Hiwatari1, SinaIvanov, tacks, lallyzippo and Akina.Strange. Your reviews make me so happy :D**_

_**And for Akina.Strange: 'Que sera, sera' translates roughly as 'what will happen will, what won't happen won't'. **_

_**Without further ado…I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**_

_**Chapter 13**_

He'd forgotten to close the blinds.

That was the first thing that occurred to him as he groggily surfaced into consciousness with the morning sunlight streaming freely into the room.

The second thing that occurred to him was that there seemed to be a very small blacksmith in his head, hammering away on his anvil in a way that was really rather rude this early in the day.

In other words…Tala Ivanov had one hell of a headache.

"Oh. My. Sweet. Jeezus," he groaned, sitting up and shading his eyes from the bright sun in an effort to ease the pounding in his skull.

…

The effort was futile.

"Nngh…" he mumbled, looking around the rather messy living room, "Just how much did we _drink _last night…?"

He found the answer to this question not only in the presence of a fair few empty beer cans, but also in the fact that his parents' drinks cabinet was lying wide open and there was a half-empty bottle of Smirnoff on the coffee table with two empty glasses sitting innocently nearby.

"I wonder why I don't remember that," he said out loud with a raspy sort of half-laugh. The situation would have been amusing to him, had he not felt just about ready to keel over and fall quietly into his grave.

As his bleary mind started to function at some level of normality, he noticed his companion from the previous evening was nowhere to be seen.

'_Probably in the bathroom,' _one voice in his head said.

'_Yeah, with his head down the toilet and puking his guts out,' _said another.

"Somehow I can't picture that…" he mumbled to himself. Kai had seemed a lot more human last night – a lot more…reachable – but it still seemed impossible to imagine that the proud teen would succumb to something as trivial and petty as a hangover.

"If he's feeling in perfect health when I find him, I'll kill him…" he muttered, forcing himself to his feet and grimacing as a wave of nausea ripped through him. He shut his eyes and waited for it to pass.

…

It didn't.

"Bastard," he said, standing on one of the empty cans until it was satisfactorily crushed, "Never again. I _swear, _never again…"

He heard movement from the hallway and a moment later Kai stuck his head through the living room door, whilst pulling on his shoes.

"You're awake?" he queried, looking surprised.

"Only just," he replied, flopping back onto the sofa now that he didn't have to go on a one-man search party, "And I may be awake, but I'm not entirely sure I'm alive."

"Feeling like shit's a sure sign you're alive, Ivanov," he told him with obvious amusement.

"Oh wow, you called me 'Ivanov'," he said, but without the energy to add his usual over-exaggerated look of shock, "Maybe someday we'll get as far as 'Tala'."

"Maybe someday," he agreed, finishing tying the laces on his shoes.

"Come _on, _Kai, there's no _way _you're not feeling even a tiny bit ill," he said in a rather pitiful, pleading voice.

"No, I'm just peachy," he said, sitting next to him on the sofa. His voice dripped with sarcasm, but somehow it just wasn't quite enough,

"No, no, you feel terrible," he whined, "Come on, say it."

"I feel terrible," he said in the sort of voice more suited to a comment like 'This is so painfully asinine'.

"With feeling, Kai! With feeling, I say!"

"No," he said flatly. He sighed as melodramatically as he could.

"Oh _well_," he said in faux disappointment, making notes on an imaginary clipboard, "Despite that, I think we've made a lot of progress this little while…why don't you see my secretary about booking in for another session and we'll-?"

"Do _not _talk like a shrink," Kai ordered, "Or I may be forced to smash that bottle over your head."

"My head's in enough pain! Touch it and you die!" he declared, picking up a cushion and hiding his face in it.

"…Right…Anyway, I should go…"

"Huh? Hey, hold up!" he said as the other boy made for the door, "Where's the fire?"

"No one was going to be sitting up waiting for me to get home last night, but I'd hope that _someone _might notice if I don't appear back before midday today," he said, "Besides, I think I'd prefer to sleep off this headache in my own bed."

"So you _do _feel crap…that's good…no, wait, not good…"

"I told you that stuff would destroy your brain-cells," Kai said, shaking his head.

"What_ever_…Mr Smarty-Pants…"

"You're being even more childish than usual."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, before you make your hasty escape, how's the face?"

"As well as can be expected, I suppose," he replied, "I mean, I wouldn't exactly want my photograph to appear on the internet right now but it's not as bad as I expected."

"Would you ever want your photograph on the internet?"

"Not particularly, no…"

"Thought so. Are you sure you don't wanna go up to the hospital, just to get checked over? I don't know much about dressing wounds, and if you got some infection it could be so gross…"

"It's fine," he said, absently running a hand over the bandages on his face, "You…did a good job."

"Holy crap, Kai, gratitude _and _praise in the space of twenty-four hours?" he teased, "You need to stop before the universe implodes."

"Shut up," he said. He looked annoyed, but he knew that he was glad he'd given him a teasing reply and not something all humble and thankful. He could tell that, after everything that had been said last night, Kai was probably worried that things would change between them. He wanted to make it clear that it wasn't like that. He knew they weren't going to be all open and sweet to each other all the time, and in all honesty he wouldn't have liked that. The stupid bickering…it was just how they interacted. It was…good. It suited them, he supposed.

"So I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?" he said, forcing himself to his feet.

"Hn…"

"Hey, Kai…" he said carefully, "Come on, say you won't ditch school anymore. It's not cool."

"I don't do it to be 'cool'," he said bluntly, "I just…That place drives me crazy sometimes. I can't stand it…"

"Give it a chance," he said seriously, "I mean…you only started there a little while ago. And you've been bunking off most of the time. Maybe if you actually spent some time there…if you tried…you'd find things you like about it."

Kai looked at him for a long moment.

"Pft…you sound like Dickenson," he said, "Telling me to try harder."

"Well…I thought you liked a challenge?"

Kai blinked and looked at him bewilderedly. He grinned and waved a finger at him.

"It's like a game, Kai," he said, "You think I love going to school, sitting in classes, getting ordered around? It's hell sometimes. But you've gotta stick with it. People _expect _you to drop out and play hooky and disrupt the local community. It shuts them up if you grind down and stay in class. That's how you beat them! You hate following people's expectations, right? Join the physics club and they'll all die of heart failure!"

"Yeah, ok, calm down," he said dryly, but the ghost of a smile was working on his face, "Fine, I'll…I'll 'try my best'."

"And that's the best you can do," he said brightly, extending his right hand, "But you gotta promise. Come on, shake on it."

Kai rolled his eyes but complied, clasping his hand for a weirdly formal moment.

"Seems like you're getting over the whole 'don't touch me' thing," he suggested.

"Not really," he said, "You shouldn't get your hopes too high for me."

"Why? Does that just make it more fun for you to dash them on the rocks?" he asked with a teasing grin. Kai rolled his eyes again.

"Ugh…we really shouldn't have been getting ourselves blitzed last night…" he groaned as the sickening pounding continued in his head.

"Well observed," Kai commented dryly.

"Shaddup, I meant we should have been thinking about that diary…"

"Oh yeah, that thing."

"'That thing'? Man, you're heartless. Someone poured their cynical little soul into that. Where is it, anyway…?"

His search eventually led him to his bedroom where he found the notebook lying on his desk.

"I've gotten so used to see it around, I sometimes forget it belongs to someone else…" he mused with a slight smile.

"And we still have no clue who the 'someone else' is?" Kai queried.

"Sure seems that way. And look…" he flicked through the book, showing Kai where the writing stopped and the blank pages began, "That last entry was the final one. There's no more in here."

"Seriously? But that entry was still from a while ago…"

"Yeah, well they must have got tired listening to their guidance teacher, cos there's no more writing in this notebook," he said, placing it back on the desk.

"So all we have to go on is what we've read already?" he questioned, "We're going to need to read those parts over and over until we can get more clues from them and…?"

"Nah," he said.

Kai blinked.

"What?" he asked.

"We don't need to do all that," Tala said.

"You…know who wrote it?"

"Nope," he said simply with a grin.

"Then…then…what?" Kai said, looking thoroughly confused.

"I think I've had enough," he said with a fond smile, "Reading it was amusing, and trying to solve it was fun – like being a kid again and playing detectives – but I think it's over now. I think I can leave it."

"You're…giving up?" Kai questioned, looking even more confused. He laughed.

"Well that's a cruel way of putting it. It's not like we haven't tried," he said, "But let's face it, it's an impossible task. We have nothing to go on, no concrete evidence about anyone…let's just let it lie, huh?"

"Are you sure?" he said doubtfully, "I mean, you were the one who was saying you were 'supposed' to find it and all that…"

"Yeah, but…maybe I wasn't supposed to find it to _solve_ it," he said, "Maybe I was meant to find it for a _different_ reason."

Kai frowned, evidently not getting his meaning. He almost laughed.

"Anyway, I think I can let it go," he said, "It feels weird, leaving something unsolved…but I think it's the best thing we can do. What do you think?"

Kai looked doubtful.

"You'll never get to say 'I found your diary'," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," he agreed, "But I think I can live with myself. You?"

"Well, yeah, I could live the rest of my life not knowing," the slate-haired boy said, "But it feels like we're giving up kind of easily…"

"In case you're wondering, just because we're not working on the diary anymore doesn't mean we stop being friends," he said in amusement. Kai looked at him blankly for a moment before scowling.

"I wasn't thinking about that!" he protested, "You really think I care whether you're hanging around me all the time or not? I just…you know…"

"Yeah…I do know," he said with a light laugh, "Come on, Kai. If I can give it up, anyone can."

"Alright…" he said, the bridge of his nose a startling shade of pink, "Forget it, then. It's done."

There was a silence.

"Well that was anti-climatic…" Tala said finally.

"Hn…"

"So, do you want to keep this, or will I?" he asked, holding up the diary, "A memoir. I think it's kind of late to give it to lost and found now."

Kai raised an eyebrow at him.

"You keep it," he said, "It's not like I need it."

"Aw, Kai, that's sweet," he said with a chuckle. The other boy shrugged.

"If the original owner tracks it down, it'll be your neck, not mine," he pointed out.

"Ouch," Tala said, mock-wincing. Kai looked at the clock on the wall.

"Damn. I _really _should go," he grimaced, seeing it was almost noon.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," Tala said, "…_Right?_"

"Yeah, yeah…" he grumbled, but he smiled – an _actual _smile this time – before turning to leave.

Tala watched him go, also smiling. Kai hadn't understood when he'd said it, but he really did think he'd found that diary for a reason. Just not the reason he'd first thought.

All in all, he was pretty sure he'd found it because some higher force had known it would lead him to a certain little troublemaker by the name of Kai Hiwatari.

* * *

Kai, true to his word, did come to school the next day.

The day after that, however, he was nowhere to be found.

"I can't believe that little bastard…" Tala mumbled to himself, "When I get my hands on him, so help me…"

It was parents' night that evening, so his class were helping move some of the pieces of work from the art department down to the foyer for the mothers and fathers to contemplate whilst they waited for their interviews which would, inevitably, run late. He had just finished adding a first year's rather lopsided clay vase to the display and was returning to the class to collect more when someone carrying an extremely large painting – pretty much obscuring their vision – almost walked smack into him.

"Woah, careful," he yelped, ducking out of the way. A head poked its way around the side of the wide canvas, and he saw it was Rei, one of his classmates. Friends with Tyson. From that group.

"Sorry," the Chinese boy said sheepishly, "Can't see a thing past this."

"Here, give me an end and we'll both carry it," he said, carefully supporting one end of the painting, "Safer that way."

"Thanks," he said with a cat-like grin.

Shortly afterwards the painting was hung on the wall in pride of place, right in the middle. Now that Tala stood back and looked at it, he could see it was really good, done almost to a professional standard.

"Wow," he whistled, "One of the seniors do that?"

"No," Rei said, "Believe it or not, it was someone in our year."

"You're kidding."

"No, seriously," he said, nodding earnestly, "You'll never guess who."

"…Tyson?" he suggested with a grin. Rei laughed.

"Ok, not quite _that _unexpected," he admitted, "But look, bottom right-hand corner."

He raised a sceptical eyebrow at him before scrutinizing said area of the canvas. There, written _very _small and faint, almost as if the artist would really have preferred to remain anonymous, was…

"Alright, you _are _kidding me," he chuckled, "Since when is Kai good at art?"

"Since always, I think," Rei laughed, "But you're right, no one saw it coming. When he first came into our class, Minagawa-sensei was pretty wary of him. She thought he was just another delinquent being forced into an art class. But when she finally hassled him into picking up a pencil…the look on her face was a piece of art in itself."

"I can imagine…" he said, looking over the painting again. It depicted a figure – their features in elegant shadow – seated in a pale, cold room, looking into a mirror. However, although the room was reflected perfectly, the person themselves didn't appear in the glass.

"Even though I'm an art ignoramus, I can see it's _good_," he said, "But…what's it all about? The only people I know of who don't show up in mirrors are vampires."

"I'm pretty sure it's not a portrait of Dracula," Rei chuckled, "It probably has some sort of meaning, but nobody's sure exactly what it is. You'd probably have to ask Kai himself. You two are friends now, right?"

"I'm not sure about _that_," he said with a dry smile, "He likes to deny things like that."

"Tell me about it," he said amiably, "When he first came here he hung around with us for a while…well, Tyson pretty much forced him to. But I always got the feeling he wasn't really happy with it, y'know? We're kind of different from him. I think it made him uneasy. But I've seen him with you a few times, and he looked better."

"You think?" he questioned incredulously.

"Yeah…it looked like you were getting a bit of a rise out of him," he laughed, "And I know that sounds bad, but…when he was with us, he was always so _quiet. _Never spoke, never laughed, nothing. So when I saw you making him get annoyed, I thought it must be an improvement. At least he looked lively, you know what I mean?"

"I suppose," he agreed, "For me, it's only when he quietens down that I know he's _actually _annoyed with me."

"That's good," Rei laughed, "I'm glad. Can't say the same about Tyson, sadly. He's being pretty childish about it. Says this is a 'betrayal' on Kai's part and the like."

"Uh oh," he winced, "And why do I feel like I'm getting at least part of the blame?"

"Don't worry about it," Rei said dismissively, "We can keep Tyson under control for as long as there are cheeseburgers in the cafeteria."

"That's…comforting…" he said, giving the painting one last appraising glance, "Seriously, I can't believe he painted that. Next time I see him, I'm going to kick him. He's never even mentioned to me he _does _art, never mind the fact that he's clearly brilliant at it."

"Well, people do always say that left-handers make the best artists," Rei said, also gazing at the picture, though probably with more comprehension than Tala.

"Oh, he's left-handed?" he questioned, surprised.

"Yeah," Rei said, "Come on, we'd better get back to work."

"You're right…the parents will be so upset tonight if there is a distinct lack of wonky vases for them to inspect…"

The rest of the day passed in such a way. Moving artwork, shifting desks. Good thing, really. It was getting so near the end of term, no one could be bothered doing much written work anyway.

Just as the home bell rang, Tala found himself being stopped by an unfamiliar teacher wearing an excessive number of dangly necklaces. He looked at her nametag and saw it read 'Kira Minagawa, Art Department'. So…Kai's biggest fan.

"Excuse me, dear," she said anxiously, "A boy in my class told me you were a friend of Kai's. Is that right?"

Deciding that now wouldn't be a good time to start with the whole 'Well, I am, but I'm not, but I really am…' rag, he chose to just nod.

"Oh thank goodness…I wonder if you could take this to him?" she asked, taking an envelope from her pocket, "It's rather important. It's so typical of him not to be in today…"

"Sure…" he said, accepting the envelope, "But, uh…you wouldn't happen to have his address, would you?"

She looked momentarily surprised that he didn't even know where his 'friend' lived but seemed to decide her errand was too important to be hindered by such minor details. She looked up his file on the computer system and scribbled the address onto the front of the envelope. He thanked her and left.

This was kind of a lucky break for him. He wasn't in any way eager to head straight home. His parents would be back from that trip of theirs by now, and would no doubt have heard of his little…indiscretion at the weekend. He'd cleared up all the mess (the phrase 'hiding the evidence' spinning annoyingly in his head the whole time) but it was inevitable that they would have heard from _someone _that he'd missed that irritating dinner party, and unless he came up with some sort of concrete excuse ('I wasn't feeling very well' just wasn't going to cut it) he was going to be in a _lot _of trouble. So this bought him some time.

It also gave him a chance to confront and reprimand his truanting cohort.

Damnit, he promised! And although he hadn't expected him to hold to his word _forever, _he'd thought it would have lasted more than _one _day.

Once he was outside the gates he looked down at the address. To his mild surprise it was in one of the richer areas of town. Hn. At least Kai didn't seem like a snob. He wondered vaguely what his parents were like. He never spoke about them. Maybe he was embarrassed?

"I guess I'll find out soon enough…" he mumbled to himself, starting to walk.

He smirked slightly. Kai sure was going to get a surprise, him showing up unexpectedly on his doorstep.

After about ten minutes his destination came into sight. He raised his eyebrows, struggling to keep his jaw from going slack.

It was…big.

He snorted to himself. No wonder Kai was kind of bratty.

Or, then again, maybe that was just Kai.

Feeling distinctly like an unwelcome commoner, he approached the door and pressed the bell. He cringed as it rang out sonorously throughout the entire house, seeming to echo in his ears. So much for slipping in quietly.

After a pause the large door creaked open a little, and a woman stuck her head outside. She had a kindly face and her dark hair was twisted up into a neat bun. She appeared middle-aged and had old-fashioned spectacles perched on her nose, and it was through these that she now peered short-sightedly at him.

"Can I help you?" she asked uncertainly.

"Uh…yeah," he said, taking the envelope out of his pocket, "One of the teachers at school asked me to take this to Kai and…"

He trailed off because he had clearly said the magic word. At the mention of Kai her face lit up and she smiled at him.

"Oh, are you a friend of his?" she asked, looking almost hopeful.

"Huh? Um…yeah, I guess so…"

"Well, come in, come in," she said merrily, almost dragging him inside, "I'm sure he'll be glad to see a friendly face, he's been awfully under the weather all day…"

"Eh?" he questioned, stopping and staring at her, "You mean he's sick?"

She looked at him blankly for a moment.

"Of course, dear," she said finally, "Why else would he be off school?"

"Oh…yeah, of course…"

Evidently, she didn't know about Kai's poor attendance record.

He felt slightly guilty. He'd been so quick to spring to the conclusion that Kai was ditching again, he hadn't stopped to think that there might _actually _be something wrong.

"So…are you…Kai's mother?" he asked uncertainly. She laughed lightly.

"Oh no, dear," she said, "I'm the housekeeper here for Mr Voltaire. Here you are, Kai's just in the living room through there…"

She pointed out the door to him before bustling off. He shook his head. 'Housekeeper'. She said it so casually, like it was totally normal for a family to have people working for them in their own home.

He went through the door as directed. It led into a relatively small room, pleasantly decorated and comfortably furnished. The television was turned on, but he didn't see Kai. There was a sofa with its back to him, and when he walked around to the other side of it he saw the slate-haired boy, lying curled up with his back to the TV and the rest of the world, apparently sleeping.

Since Kai was normally so picky about being looked upon when he was awake, he decided to take this opportunity to have a close look at how he was healing up. On the side of his face that he could see, the dressings had apparently been changed. Whoever had done it for him this time had obviously had a better idea of what they were doing, because it was a much neater job. The band-aids on a few of the smaller nicks and cuts had been removed, and the bruising appeared to be fading a little. Behind all that, he could see his face was unusually pale, and his forehead was creased in a slight frown, as if he was in discomfort.

He knelt down next to the sofa, unsure whether to wake him or not. He was soon saved this dilemma, however, when the other boy stirred anyway.

"Hey…" he whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a little shake, "You awake?"

Kai mumbled something incoherent and turned over, blinking sleepily. His frown deepened when he saw him there, and for a moment he looked vaguely uncertain if he was dreaming or not.

"…Hey," he said at length, rubbing at his eyes.

"You missed school. What's up with you?" he asked, "Hangover after-shock?"

He half-laughed, half-coughed.

"Nah," he said eventually, "Just…I dunno. Not right."

He sat up and switched off the TV, still looking half-asleep.

"Excuse me for asking, but…" he said at length, giving a small stretch and looking mildly unnerved when his back cracked a few times, "_How_ do you know where I live?"

"Minagawa-sensei," Tala said with a grin, amused at the other's endless suspicion, "She asked me to take this to you."

He handed him the envelope which he looked at scathingly.

"So how long were you watching me sleep?" he asked, tearing the letter open, "Kinda creepy, Ivanov."

"Have no fear, Hiwatari, I just got here," he said, taking a seat next to him, "What does your art teacher want?"

"Nngh…she's pleading with me to arrange a parent-teacher meeting with her tonight," he said dully, reading the note, "I told her no one can make it, but she sure is desperate. Here she says I've just to phone and name a time and she'll be there. Somehow that just sounds wrong."

Tala laughed lightly at the other's furtive little mind. There was a moment of silence.

"Wait…how did you know she's my art teacher?" Kai said suspiciously, "I never told you. I never even told you I _do _art."

"Yeah, tell me about it," he said in slight annoyance, "I _didn't _know you did art until I had to hang your painting in the foyer today. Why the hell did you never tell me you can paint like that?"

"You never asked," he said flatly before clapping a hand over his eyes, "Bloody hell, I _hate _that painting…nngh, I wish you hadn't seen it…"

"How can you hate it?" he gaped, "It's amazing."

"I just…don't like it."

"I bet you're embarrassed," he smirked, poking his arm, "You want everyone to think you're a hardcore, down-to-earth, logical person, when really you're just a sweet, sensitive little artiste…"

"Shut up," Kai said absently, shrugging off his hand.

Just then, they both heard a voice resounding through a nearby room. Tala recognized it as the voice belonging to the man he'd seen talking to Mr Dickenson up at the school. He currently seemed to be shouting orders, and he could hear the poor housekeeper squeaking in reply. Kai visibly tensed.

"Let's go upstairs," he said quietly, getting abruptly to his feet.

"…Yeah, ok," he said, deciding that he shouldn't question him.

They left the room and Kai almost scurried upstairs, Tala close behind.

Looking over his shoulder, he caught a brief glimpse of the steely-haired man from before.

He did make a formidable figure, but Tala couldn't help but wonder why Kai seemed to harbour such negative feelings towards him.

The man was, after all, the boy's own grandfather.

And if they lived under the same roof, they must be pretty close.

…

Right?

* * *

_**Wheee, **__**chapter 13 finished.**_

_**Please…no one kill me. (Runs away)**_

_**Please review!**_

_**Until next time…**_

_**Fiver**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**(Stretches) Ow. This chapter was a pain to write. And I think it's pretty lame…but it's so long I can't be bothered going over it and fixing it all T.T I'm sorry! It's not THAT bad…I hope.**_

_**Anyhoo.**_

_**Yes, it's long. Yes, it's the second-last chapter. Yes, we FINALLY get some answers.**_

_**So enjoy XD**_

_**Chapter 14**_

They were half-way up the second flight of stairs when Tala was almost sent falling to his death by a hissing, scrabbling ball of fur that came flying at him out of absolutely nowhere.

"Holy-!" he started to yelp, grabbing the banister as the deranged creature spat and clawed at his ankles.

"It's just a cat, Ivanov," Kai said, rolling his eyes like he was the biggest moron in the world.

"_That's_ a cat?" he questioned dryly, looking at the animal that he could have sworn was glaring at him. Now that it was sitting relatively still he could see it was indeed a cat, a rather skinny grey tabby that looked as though its not-too-distant ancestors had hunted zebras.

"Yes," he said with another eye-roll, bundling the homicidal feline into his arms.

"He's yours?" Tala asked, eyebrows raised, when he noticed that the animal immediately went quiet and placid when Kai picked it up, and was currently snuggling quite happily into the material of his shirt.

"Yeah," he said, shrugging, "Found him in the dustbin out back."

"Seriously?" he laughed.

"Yeah. My grandfather doesn't approve. He sent someone out to buy me a pedigree blue Persian or something, like I could just replace something I actually like with something more expensive. Didn't work, though. I hated that bloody fuzz-ball. I think the housekeeper gave it to her niece."

"You're so cold," he chuckled, "So what's this fuzz-ball's name? Lucifer? Damien?"

"No," he said, "…Vincent."

"Ah, like Vincent Price? Good call," he said with a nod.

"No," he said, scratching the cat behind the ears, "Try again."

He examined the cat (and it really _was _scowling back at him) and eventually noticed it was missing half an ear.

"Oh I get it," he said with a grin, pointing at said mangled ear, "Vincent van Gogh, right?"

"Right."

"You really _are _arty, Kai," he said with a grin, secretly impressed with himself for actually remembering that lesson from middle school art history.

"It's just because I noticed he got his ear bitten off," he mumbled, looking away, "If he didn't have that he'd be called Tom or something. I didn't go out of my way to name him after an artist."

"Yeah, ok," he said, slightly amused by the other's apparent embarrassment, "But you know when van Gogh cut his ear off, he put it in an envelope and gave it to a prostitute? He sounds totally nuts. He fell in love with his landlady's daughter, fell in love with his cousin, fell in love with a prostitute – not the same one he gave his ear to -, attacked his buddy Gauguin with a razor, and in the end shot himself for no apparent reason."

"Yeah," Kai said dryly, "He also painted from time to time."

"Only when he could squeeze it in," he said with a laugh.

Kai once again rolled his eyes and continued his way upstairs. Vincent peered back at Tala over his shoulder, still with that scowly look, and he thought it was true what they said…pets really did come to look like their owners.

Kai eventually reached the appropriate door and kicked it open irritably and they went inside.

Tala stopped and blinked in utter astonishment.

The room inside – which he could only assume was Kai's bedroom – sported a pale wooden floor with a large black rug in the middle, an impeccably made bed with black bedclothes, a wooden desk with a computer on it, dark curtains…

And fluorescent orange walls.

"…Oh my," he said at length.

"Yeah," Kai agreed, "Oh my."

"Uh…" he stared around, still trying to take it in and not be blinded by it at the same time, "You going to tell me how this happened? Since you're an artist and would-be emo, I'm guessing it wasn't your first choice."

"Hn…" Kai said, dropping Vincent down on the bed, "I guess I just…got what I asked for."

"_Huh?_"

Kai slumped into the chair by the computer, staring moodily at the blank screen.

"My grandfather and I…" he said, "We…don't get along too well."

"I gathered," he said, nodding encouragingly when Kai didn't continue.

"I know it sounds _really _pathetic…" the slate-haired boy said, twisting his hands together uncomfortably, "But…he's got no time for me. It doesn't bother me now. But a while ago…I needed him. And he was never there. All that matters to him is his company. His money."

Tala studied him for a moment. It was obvious that this went deeper than just tangerine-coloured emulsion. Once again he'd stumbled unwittingly upon one of the more delicate parts of his companion's life. He could see this was an awkward thing for Kai to talk about, and one wrong move would make him retreat hastily back inside himself. He needed to tread _very _cautiously.

"You think his company comes before you?" he questioned carefully.

"I'm sure as hell it does. He doesn't care about other people. To him, the fact that he even _has _a grandson doesn't matter. He doesn't even seem to care about…what we both lost."

The word struck a chord in his memory.

"Lost…?" he repeated uncertainly. Kai gave a humourless smirk and nodded, understanding what he was remembering.

"You remember that day in the park?" he said, "You asked me if I had lost something recently and I…I got angry."

There was a silence.

"Kai…" he said finally, tentatively, "What did you lose?"

The other took a deep breath and closed his eyes tiredly.

"My parents," he said flatly.

There was another silence, the most agonizing one Tala had ever felt.

"Oh my God, Kai," he groaned, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, it's fine," Kai said, but his voice was empty, "You didn't know. I was stupid to think you did. I was just…strung up about it that day. That's all."

"But…"

"Anyway, about the room. Grandfather and I were having an argument. Can't remember what it was about. Something stupid. And when it was over he yelled 'What about this room, then?'"

He paused for a moment, opening his crimson eyes and looking at the ceiling.

"…So I told him to paint it bloody bright orange for all I cared," he finished.

Tala barely heard the end of the story regarding the colour of the room. Who gave a shit what colour the room was? Why was he even still talking about it? It didn't _matter, _that wasn't what was _important_ now.

He sat down on the floor, his back leaning against the bed. He gestured to Kai to join him, and whilst the other boy looked perplexed, he obeyed.

"When…when did you lose your parents, Kai?" he asked quietly.

The slate-haired boy frowned slightly but didn't object to this questioning.

"About half a year ago now," he said, fiddling with a loose thread on his sleeve, "Six or seven months."

"That's all?" he asked, horrified. He didn't have the greatest relationship with his mother and father, but if either of them were to die – never mind both – he didn't think he'd be able to be back at school, going about his life in a normal fashion, so _soon. _

"Yes," he said absently, "It feels like longer."

"What happened?" he asked softly.

"Some idiot kid got drunk and stole a car," he said, voice flat and emotionless, "They got in his way."

He winced. Kai didn't.

"That's when I came to live with my grandfather," he continued, unprompted, "Too bad he doesn't even seem to care his daughter is dead."

Tala winced again at the blunt way he spoke about it, as if he had detached himself from it and no longer let it cause him any pain.

"So…um…" Tala said uncertainly, "About seven months ago…is that when you stopped being an A-student?"

Kai looked up at him sharply.

"Stay _out _of my head," he said, the same way he always did.

But this time, it was going to be different.

"No," he shot back.

Kai stared at him for a moment, bewildered.

"What?" he questioned at length.

"I said no," he said firmly, "Don't you get it, Kai? You _need _to let somebody inside your head. You don't always have to be alone. Hell, you _can't _always be alone!"

"Shut up," he snapped glaring at him, but that was different too – it was full of real anger this time, and something else that might have been fear, "I don't need anyone. I can do things alone. I don't need you. I can get through this _on my own…_!"

"You _can't_!" he shouted, snapping, "Lie to me if you want, but don't lie to yourself. You need help, Kai. Your grandfather didn't give it to you, so you've locked everything away. But that doesn't _work, _Kai, it just doesn't…"

"It works just fine!" he yelled, the voice that was always so calm and measured getting louder and louder with every word, "It worked the past seven months, it'll work the next seven months. And don't look so damn _smug, _I wasn't going to deny that I've locked everything up. I know I've done it. And I don't care. It's better this way. It's better not to care about anything. And I _don't _need help, whatever the hell _that _means. You think I need a goddamned shrink? You'd love that, wouldn't you? Getting someone to _talk _to me about my _feelings. _You're so full of _shit! _I don't need that, and I _don't need you!_"

He stopped, breathing hard, hands clenched into tight, knotted fists.

Tala sighed deeply, finding it hard to believe that only a few minutes ago they had been downstairs and everything had been normal between them. They came upon these painful subjects so quickly, so unexpectedly…it always caught him by surprise.

"Listen," he said quietly, "I never said I wanted you to see a shrink. I know you wouldn't like that."

"Don't talk like you know me," Kai said, pointedly looking the other way, perhaps afraid of what emotions could be seen in his eyes.

"I _do _know you," he said simply, "And I also know that seven months isn't long enough for a person to move on past something like this."

"So you don't _want _me to get over it?"

"You know that's not what I meant," he sighed, "I just mean…it's still hurting you. But you're pretending like it's not there."

"Shut up," he muttered.

"You can't keep it all bottled up forever," he said, "One day it'll all break out. And it could really damage you, Kai. It could kill you."

"What difference would that make?" he snapped unexpectedly, turning to glare at him with fiery eyes, "Who's really going to notice if I'm dead? Who'd be sad? Who'd cry for _me_?"

Tala couldn't help but feel the sympathy welling up inside him. He'd always thought Kai was so stead-fast, so immune to whatever the world threw at him. But he could see a glimmer of the truth now. He was _lonely. _Just a hurt, lonely kid who felt like the world didn't need him anymore, since the two people who'd needed him most were no longer in it.

He placed a hand on his shoulder. Kai reached up to shove it off, but Tala caught his hand and held onto it tightly, wordlessly saying 'I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere.'

"You'd be surprised," he said with an attempt at a smile, "Even if someone I've never met before dies, I feel sad if I hear about it. What do you think I'd do if it was _you_?"

Kai bit his lip and turned away, the anger on his face simmering down slightly but by no means disappearing.

"Never think it wouldn't matter," Tala said quietly, "It would."

Kai's only response was to tug his hand away and turn his back on him.

"Still…that's an unusual thing for you to ask," Tala mused, "'Who'd cry for me?' I didn't expect you to think about things like that. Is it because you cry for…for them?"

He couldn't quite bring himself to say 'your parents', somehow.

His intention had been to spark that fire he knew existed within the other boy, make him angry again. At least that way some of those negative feelings were getting vent. He had expected a shout of rage, an 'Of course I cry for them, you bastard!' To his extreme disquiet, however, all that happened was a tensing of shoulders, a lowering of the head.

"…Aw, hell, Kai," he said with a groan, "You don't?"

"No," he said haughtily, "What good would that do? It wouldn't bring them back."

"You never cried for them?"

"Only a few times," he said stiffly, "Back before I realized how pathetic it was."

"No," he said firmly, "You want to know what's pathetic? Johnny McGregor getting his entire gang together just to hurt you. _That's _pathetic. Not having the guts to tell people I don't want to go down the path they've set for me. _That's _pathetic. And not even letting yourself be sad about the loss of people you love…that's _really _pathetic."

He got his angry reaction this time. Kai turned to face him, and he could see his fury was like a volcano just ready to erupt.

"What would _you _know?" he hissed, "What gives you the right to tell me all this? You don't know what it feels like, do you? You still have your…you still have _them. _And you complain about them more often than you say good things about them. So how can you possibly presume to know?"

"Because, I might argue with them, and we might drive each other crazy from time to time…" he said quietly, "But if I close my eyes and just _imagine _them not being here any more, it tears me apart. And that's just thinking about it. I know that if it _actually _happened, it'd be a million times worse. So I might not know exactly what it feels like…but I know how terrible it must be."

Kai bit down on his lower lip again, so hard that Tala thought he might be in danger of splitting it again.

"Is this why you skip school?" he asked, trying to alter the topic of discussion slightly but still keeping to the same basic point.

"I hate school," he replied, and his voice was almost a whisper.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I always hated it. But I used to put up with it, because I thought it mattered. It doesn't feel like it matters anymore."

"Because they're not here?"

"I guess."

"Is that why you skipped today?"

"Not…exactly. Sort of."

"Hm?"

"Today's a bad day," he said quietly, knees pulled up to his chest.

This really was an odd situation to be in. Kai acted like he didn't want to talk about this, but he really did, but a part of him really didn't…

So what was he meant to do?

"Why's today so bad?" he asked in a carefully measured tone.

"…"

"Kai, you brought it up," he said, unable to keep the exasperation out of his voice, "And that implies that you want to tell me about it. I'm not really asking for my own benefit here."

"…It's my mum's birthday today," he mumbled, "I didn't think I should go to school. I might have blown my top at someone."

Tala closed his pale blue eyes for a moment. The very idea of the pain this day must be causing him was overwhelming. But they needed to get to the bottom of this. Today. Now. This subject couldn't be left to stagnate any longer. It was like an infected wound, poisonous and festering, and they needed to get it all out in the open, to try and drain the venom away.

"It must be really hard for you," he said quietly.

"It'll be harder if I have to think about it," was the reply.

"But you didn't break your promise," he said, "That's good."

"I did break it," Kai said dully, "I said I would go to school."

"No, you said you wouldn't _skip _school," he said, "If you have a good reason to be absent, you don't need to come. I think that's as good a reason as any."

"You don't think it's…kind of babyish?" he asked, and Tala could see a flicker of insecurity, vulnerability, behind his haughty crimson eyes, "Pathetic?"

"And stupid too, I suppose?" he said with a frown, "No. I think it's very sad. And I wish there was something I could say that would help. But I don't think there are any words in the world that would do any good right now."

"…How did you get so close without me noticing?" Kai said suddenly, distantly, as if he was talking mostly to himself, "I swore I'd keep everyone distant. But you came along, and before I even knew it you were…just _there. _And now you even know about this…"

"Does it really bother you so much?" he asked, "If you didn't want to tell me, you would have been more stubborn about it."

A ghostly smile flitted across the other boy's face.

"I guess you're right," he said, "Maybe I did want to tell you."

"Maybe you did," he agreed.

And it did seem that way. It was as if the subject had been drifting between them for some time now, just waiting for the opportune moment to be properly touched upon. And now it had its moment. And they needed to make the most of it.

"Putting on a brave face…or a cold face…won't keep you safe forever," Tala said at length, "It's probably better to break the mask yourself, rather than wait until the day it just crumbles and leaves you helpless…"

They were both silent for a long, long time. Vincent sprang down off the bed and looked up solemnly at Tala, his look now more like a grimace than a glare, somehow. He petted the feline's head tentatively, relieved when it didn't attempt to claw him to ribbons.

"Heh…I thought you hated me, Mr. One-Ear," he said.

"Pft…" he heard Kai say, "Who could hate you?"

His voice sounded a little odd. He turned to look at him and saw that his expression was remote, and his eyes oddly glassy.

"So the flood-walls break…" Tala said quietly, "About time."

The other boy furiously swiped at his watery eyes, trying to stem the flow.

"Kai, relax," he said, "I'm not going to laugh."

The slate-haired boy had no choice, anyway. It was like the icy barriers he'd set up inside himself were melting, and presenting themselves to the world in the form of tears.

Tala laid an arm gingerly across his shoulders. His first attempt was swiped off, but after some perseverance Kai just gave up and let himself be hugged, for the first time in no one knew how long.

It was a curious kind of crying. His face didn't crumple or go red, he didn't cough or gasp for breath. It was completely silent, totally motionless. His face wasn't even particularly sad-looking. There was just a steady stream of silvery tears flowing down his pale cheeks, all the pent-up sadness finally finding its way out, silently, softly, slowly.

Tala didn't know how long they sat like that. He didn't say a word the whole time. What was he meant to say? 'Don't cry'? What kind of sense would that make? Bizarre as it sounded, crying was probably the best thing he could do right now.

Besides, it'd probably be another ten years or something before he did it again.

"Shit…" Kai mumbled after a while, "_I _hate you."

"I know," he said in amusement.

A little while later the salty rivers dried up, and Kai gave a heavy sigh.

"Nngh…" he said, turning his head and resting it on his shoulder, "That was stupid."

"No, that was human," he corrected him.

"…If you ever tell a single other living soul about that…" Kai said slowly, "You will _die._"

"Have no fear," he said, rolling his eyes, "I hereby swear by the name of all that is alcohol-free that I shall never divulge to another human being – or animal – that I saw the great Kai Hiwatari act like an actual human being for a distinct period of time."

Kai's shoulders shook slightly as he almost-laughed.

"Good," he said.

Things were already back to normal between them, for now. Tala knew it wasn't over. He knew there'd be more moments like this in the future, there'd be more shouting, more ice to melt.

And, quite frankly, he looked forward to it.

The mystery of the diary might have been abandoned, but Kai was a mystery unto himself. And maybe he'd just solved that mystery. A fair chunk of it, anyway.

"I want a promise in return too, though, Kai," he said at length. Kai sat up and looked at him, one eyebrow raised coolly. He couldn't help but marvel at how little evidence there was of his emotional outburst. His eyes weren't all red and puffy, and all the tears had been wiped away. The only sign that it had happened at all was the smudginess of those startling blue triangles.

"And what promise is that?" the slate-haired boy enquired.

"That you won't bottle all this stuff up again," he said, "That you'll come talk to me – or someone else if you want – if it all starts building up and driving you crazy."

Kai didn't reply for a moment. He appeared to be considering.

"Kai…" he said warningly.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving him off, "Alright."

"Hm…I think I want a written guarantee for that one," he said, amused at the other's blasé response.

Kai rolled his eyes and got to his feet, retrieving a pen and piece of paper from his desk.

"So what am I supposed to write?" he demanded, plopping back down next to him.

"You write, 'I, Kai Hiwatari, do hereby swear, on pain of extreme teasing and annoyance, to never again-'"

"Slow down, you're going too fast!"

"Ok, ok," he laughed, pausing until the poor little scribe caught up.

…

Then he noticed a funny thing.

Kai was holding the pen and writing with his left hand.

Well, that made sense. Rei had said he was a left-hander. They all supposed that was part of why he was so arty.

But at the same time, he could also see the very faint remains of the handwriting sample Kai had shown him at the party.

And it was on the _back _of his _left hand_.

Meaning he must have written it with his _right hand_.

But…

…

Huh?

Kai seemed to notice him staring rather intently at his hands.

"Ah…I can't get it to come off completely," he said, looking at the faded 'Kai Hiwatari' on the back of his hand, not seeming to notice it was the same hand he was writing with, "Must have been bloody permanent ink or something."

He frowned at him, still thinking.

"…What's up with you?" Kai said after a few moments, looking faintly uneasy.

"Kai…" he said very slowly, "Are you…ambidextrous?"

The slate-haired boy stared at him blankly for a moment, before his cheeks burned a deep red as he realized his mistake.

"Lemme see that," Tala said, snatching the half-written contract before Kai could protest and peering at it.

And…curly g's and loopy y's…

He dug into his schoolbag and pulled out the object that had started all this.

The diary.

Even though they'd given up on it, he'd still put it in his bag this morning. Force of habit? Just something to read? He didn't know.

But it seemed like it was a bloody good thing he did.

He flipped it open at a random page and made a comparison.

And the handwriting was an exact match.

"…Holy shit," he breathed.

He stared from the paper to the notebook and back again, certain his eyes were deceiving him.

But they weren't.

"You little _liar_!" he exclaimed in total astonishment, "It was you all along!"

Kai's face had gone an alarming shade of red and he stared fixedly at a spot on the floor, fidgeting slightly.

"Come _on, _I even asked you to your face if it was yours," he gaped, still struggling to get his head around this, "Why didn't you just say? It would have saved a _hell _of a lot of time!"

"…Would _you _have admitted to writing that shit?" Kai mumbled, "I mean, seriously…a _diary…_"

"But you _wrote _that your guidance teacher forced you to write it! I knew you weren't doing it for _fun_!"

"Yeah…but…"

The room spiralled into silence as Tala tried to get his head around this new revelation, tried to _actually _believe that the mystery was solved, even after he'd given up on it.

"So…the 'Accident'…" he murmured.

"Yeah," Kai said bluntly.

He didn't have the feeling he usually had when he found the solution to a complicated problem…it usually felt like stepping into the light, or stepping out of a fog. Like a dramatic feeling of revelation. Not this time. He felt almost as lost and confused as he had when he had _started _this task.

He smiled slightly. But it wasn't _so _bad.

"So…are you angry?" Kai asked, apprehensive crimson eyes glancing up at him

"Nah," he said with a shrug, "I'm more in the region of 'shocked, stunned and in total disbelief'. In a few hours, yeah, I'll probably be raging, but right now…nah. I'm kinda glad, actually."

"Huh?"

"Ha, I'm not sure why…" he said with a laugh, "But I'm glad it was you."

"…"

Kai got to his feet once again and went over to the desk. He opened a drawer on its underside and, after a few moments of rummaging around, extracted a notebook.

"What's this?" Tala asked, perplexed, as he came and sat back down again.

"Um…"

He noticed that it was a heavy black notebook, thick, with a proper spine…

"No way," he said, lips twitching into a smile.

"After I…accidentally-on-purpose lost the first diary…" Kai mumbled, "My guidance teacher was _kind _enough to give me a new one."

"So you've been filling _this _one in this whole time?" he laughed, totally loving the bizarreness of it all, "Wow, I can't _wait _to see what you've been writing about me."

"What makes you think I've mentioned you at all?" he retorted swiftly, but it was obvious he wasn't being serious, "But…I mean…you can read it, if you want. I doubt it'll say a lot you don't know already, but…"

"Don't you worry, I'll be sure to glance at it later…though I'm reasonably sure some of the comments in it will pierce my heart," he said, "I've missed reading your little musings."

It felt so _weird _to be able to say 'your musings', 'your diary'. It had spent so long as an anonymous object that he was still struggling to make the connection between the boy he'd gotten to know and the notebook he'd spent so long scrutinizing. He wanted to laugh again. The two mysteries that he'd been drawn to had turned out to be the same thing. It seemed so _obvious _now that he thought about it.

"About that, though…" he said, "Why did you 'accidentally-on-purpose' lose the first one?"

"Because I didn't want to write it…"

"Didn't you know you'd just get another one?"

"It was worth a try…"

"And why did you ask to _help _me find out who it belonged to? That's _totally _lost me."

"I figured you'd lose interest," Kai said with a shrug, "Not many people would devote much time to something so stupid. I thought you'd get bored after a few days, and I could just take it back, and you'd forget all about it."

"But you were wrong," he pointed out, grin widening.

"I was wrong," he agreed.

"And aren't you glad you were?" he teased. Kai 'hmph'ed and looked away, but he was fighting down a smile.

"Maybe a little," he said.

There was another companionable silence while Tala flicked through the second diary, laughing every so often at some particularly scathing little gems Kai had written down. If an artistic career didn't work out for him, he could always be a writer. He couldn't be the only person in the world who found this kind of cynicism insanely amusing.

"Oh my…" he said at length, handing the notebook back to its owner, "That's our two mysteries solved, then. The mystery of the diary, and you, the personification of mystery."

"Seems that way," Kai agreed.

"Uh oh," he said with a small smile, "Whatever are we going to talk about now?"

Kai gave a small laugh and leaned back against the bed, his face taking on a quiet, contented look, the likes of which no one had seen on him since that terrible day seven months ago.

"I'm sure we'll be able to think of something," he said softly.

* * *

_**Gaspeth.**_

_**It be done!**_

_**Well, there's still one more chapter to come ;D But I think I tied up all the loose ends here…**_

…_**I am such a sap**__**. By sheer coincidence, I was listening to Avril Lavigne's 'When You're Gone' as I wrote this, and found myself getting rather emotional.**_

_**Haha. When Tala said 'It would have saved a hell of a lot of time' I was thinking 'Wow…it really would have!' XD But then there would have been no story. And wouldn't THAT have been a shame.**_

_**Awk…it was pretty predictable towards the end. I was determined to shock everyone with 'it wasn't Kai, but it really was Kai!' but obviously not…**_

_**Damnit!**_

_**Oh well, there would have been outrage if it HADN'T been Kai XD **_

_**Review replies here (I couldn't put them at the start…I would have given things away):**_

_**Klovr: oh. My. Gawd. That is SCARY, you saw RIGHT into my head! O.O About EVERYTHING! Either I'm REALLY predictable, or you're a GENIUS! (Seriously…I was so impressed! And…ashamed…) And you were the only one who noticed I changed the hand that Kai writes with :P Well done you. Haha, I'm left-handed…why do people think strange things about left-handed people? Oh well. Anyway, congrats on figuring out my ENTIRE plot XD yes, well done again. Thanks for reviewing!**_

_**Tuli-Susi: Noooooo! Don't go to my profile! My other stories…they REALLY suck. They're so bad they could tear a hole in our reality. This fic is almost done, I have new ones in-progress. If you want to read more from me, I beg you to wait for them XD Cos really…my first few fics are rather dire. Thank you for your kind words and review!**_

_**Ugh…so tired…**_

_**Thanks also to Rational Lunacy (my other chapters were grammatically incorrect? …ouch. I'm sorry :P), GabZ, Alexis Hoheimer, Destiny Quill, lallyzippo, Rise From Thy Ashes, FlamingIce94, Akina.Strange, Moon Comix (oh come on…I'm not THAT obsessed), SchoolBoredom, Night Neko-Jin, Ray-Tiger-Cat, KrisSk8Gurl, snappa, Winterblazewolf, hunt4me, Jashomara, tacks, Viper-Daisy, rin-ren-ran, Slightly Sinister Sinestra, gliitch, Dark Dragon – Fire Fox, Nameless Little Girl and hurtinphoenix. You make my sad, trivial little existence slightly less sad and trivial.**_

_**Hope ya'll enjoyed that.**_

_**Until I post the final chapter…(which, with any luck, will be VERY soon)**_

_**Fiver x**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Hi everyone :D**_

_**Here it is, the final chapter. Don't worry, there are no shocking revelations in this one XD Just a quiet little conclusion.**_

_**And the next person to say 'I KNEW IT WAS KAI' gets kicked. I would have liked to see all your faces if I had deliberately NOT made it Kai! -.-**_

_**And here are my final review thank-you's (sniffle):**_

_**Thank you to gliitch, Destiny Quill, PRETTY AS A CAR CRASH, SchoolBoredom, Nameless Little Girl, Sakana, Yurii Savinov, Tuli-Susi, KrisSk8Gurl, Lola Clarkson, **__**d0n'th8m#cz.u.a!n'Tm3, TouchOfChaos, SinaIvanov, hunt4me, Slightly Sinister Sinestra, In Darkness Is Light, RyuuKai, pessimist, Dark Dragon – Fire Fox and Winterblazewolf. You guys rock. ;-;**_

_**And now…the chapter! Please read and enjoy! (Sobs in a corner)**_

_**Chapter 15**_

_26__th__ November_

_It snowed a little today. Sadly I couldn't go out and frolic in it like a demented 7-year old because I was stuck in school._

_Yes, I was in school._

_I will write that one more time just to confirm: I was in school today. Even though I didn't want to be. I still went, and I still sat through every class._

_Thus, that brings us up to at least five months in which I haven't skipped a day._

_There was summer vacation somewhere in between, admittedly, but still. Five months. Pretty good._

_So it's been a year now since The Accident. I won't pretend it isn't still hell, trying to deal with it all. And grandfather is as uncaring as ever. But it's ok. I'm getting there._

_I finally finished that painting today. Tala wouldn't stop pestering me until I told him what it was all about. I swear, he's like a parrot or something, always squawking in my ear._

_Anyway._

_That first painting I did, back in the summer…the person in it, they didn't show up in the mirror. I wasn't really thinking when I painted it, so I don't know if it really means anything, but it if did then I guess it would mean that, back then, I felt like I didn't really exist. Like…I was here, but I wasn't here. I couldn't be seen. And I suppose it was true. I was hiding, in a way._

_You should have seen Tala's face when he tried to get his head around that one._

_So this new painting…the layout is different, but the scene is mostly the same. It's a person in front of a mirror. The room is different too, though. It's…nicer. And orange. I've gotten used to the orangeness. But in this picture, the mirror is broken. Because what's in the mirror doesn't matter any more. In the mirror, there was 'nothing', there was a 'non-existence'. I don't look in the mirror now and see a different person. I'm still the same as before. But all the pretence is gone, mostly. So I broke the mirror. Well, I painted it broken. Because the mask is broken…right?_

_So, Guidey, I wonder how much fun you've had reading my crazy thoughts for the past few months? Have you gone crazy too? And I know you've been reading it. It's your job, obviously you've been reading it. Don't worry, I don't actually think you wear a wig. I guess I'm just spiteful…I like making people insecure. _

_But don't you think I could stop writing this now? I had to write it because I was 'screwed up', right? I was struggling. But I'm better now. Haven't you noticed? I'm coming to school all the time. I've got back up to a grade B, on average. Tala's helping me catch up on the stuff I missed. I'll be getting A's again soon. Just you watch me._

_So maybe we could bring this little soul-searching exercise to a close? Over the past few months I've actually forced myself to write seriously in this thing, and get out all the bad stuff. And sometimes Tala and I talk about it. I mean, I yell at him and he puts up with it. _

_So I don't think I need this any more. I hate to admit it, but I've grown kind of attached to it lately. But if I can put it away, that'll really mean I'm not so messed up anymore. So-_

The book was plucked from his hands.

He scowled and whipped around to face the thief.

Tala stood there, his usual teasing grin on his face, dangling the notebook in front of him tauntingly.

"Hey, Kai," he said, "I found your diary."

"Very funny," he replied, rolling his eyes, "Give it, you idiot."

"Fine, fine," the red-head said in poorly-concealed amusement, handing it back to him, "I needed to say it. I never said it at the time, when I found out it was you."

"That doesn't mean you have to say it _every day _now," he complained, hastily scribbling down the end of the entry and stuffing the notebook in his bag.

"Doesn't it?" he questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"No," he said firmly.

Tala never changed. Five months later, and still refusing to give up on him.

He'd always be grateful for that.

He'd never _say it, _but inside he'd always be grateful.

"Anyway, hurry up," the red-head ordered, giving him a little shove, "We've got training to do."

"But it's freezing," he whined, hugging himself in a futile defence against the biting cold.

"Don't be such a baby."

Tala was the only one who ever saw his remotely childish side. And if he ever told anyone about it – rather like the day he'd discovered that bloody diary did indeed belong to him – he would die a slow and painful death.

"But _why?_" he grumbled as they walked towards the playing fields, "The soccer season doesn't start until February."

"All the more reason for me to try and get you into shape now," Tala said, "I mean, with that sloppy trial you only _just _made the team…you _really _need training up."

"Hey," he glowered, punching his arm.

"Ok, so I'm kidding," he laughed, "But come on, we can't just leave the training until the end of January. We'll have forgotten everything by then. We need to keep practicing."

"What_ever," _he said, though he could see the sense in this, "But I don't see why it's just me. Where's the rest of the team?"

"Are you joking? You really think any of the other guys would come train on a day like this?"

"_Then why do I have to do it?"_

"Cos you just like me _that _much," Tala grinned, ruffling his hair as they stepped onto the frozen earth of the pitch.

"You wish I did, Tala," he said dully.

He remembered the look on the other's face the first time he'd called him by his first name. It hadn't been a conscious decision – it had just sort of slipped out. He'd been thinking of his as 'Tala' for a while before that, and one day it had just come out his mouth. The extent (and volume) of the red-head's delight at this improvement had almost caused him to revert to 'Ivanov' again, but not quite.

"So how's life anyway?" Tala asked suddenly, "Anything happened recently?"

Kai thought for a moment. He looked first at the waiting red-head, then at the frozen soccer pitch, which _really _wasn't appealing to him right now.

"Well, that depends," he said finally.

"Depends?" Tala repeated, raising an eyebrow, "On what?"

"On what you want," he said with what he knew was an infuriating 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' smirk, "You can choose. We can practice soccer, and probably die of pneumonia, _or _we can have another of our little heart-sharing talks. Your choice."

Tala glowered at him for a moment. He gave his most innocent look in return, knowing he'd get his way. Before, during that whole fiasco with the diary, it had always been Tala who had been sort of in control of the situation and deciding what they'd do. Kai had been so taken-aback by it all that he'd just found himself going along with it. But of late he'd brought himself back up to speed and had learned _just _how to wrap the red-head around his littlest finger. He supposed that had been one of their 'break-throughs', one of the things Tala had had to learn. Kai is manipulative. Kai gets his way.

"If we walk through the park and the coffee stand's there, it's cappuccinos on me," he added, applying the persuasion tactic just to deliver the final blow.

Tala sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, how could I say no to _that_?" he said, batting him over the head as if to say 'Yeah, you win, brat'. Kai didn't hit him back. He never did, if he was winning.

They turned away from the soccer pitch with its sprinkling of snow and instead headed towards the park, where so many of their early encounters had taken place.

And they walked, and talked, and did indeed get some pleasantly hot coffee. Like friends would.

Well…they _were _friends, right?

"And to think…" Tala mused as they wandered along, "It all started with a diary."

"Very poetic," Kai replied dryly.

"I've been wondering, though…" he said thoughtfully, "You know you said your original plan was to just wait for me to lose interest in the diary, and then take it back?"

"Yes…?"

"How come, when I _did _decide to give up, you told me to keep it?"

Kai shrugged, but his face had gone faintly pink, whether from the cold or embarrassment he didn't know.

"I don't know," he said, "I guess I thought I could…trust you with it. And I didn't need it. As you know, I was fortunate enough to have a second one."

"So basically you'd warmed to me a little?" Tala suggested, teasing smile back in place.

"Very, _very _little."

"Hah. Sorry, Kai, your frosty verbal barbs don't work on me any more…cos I know you don't mean it."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, that's so."

"…Whatever."

And, like friends, they walked on.

* * *

_**Oh my. It's finished.**_

_**It was a very anti-climatic ending XD I just typed it, and then sat staring at the screen like 'Oh. I'm done.'**_

_**Not very exciting!**_

_**Anyway, there you go, Fiver has written a whole story! It's finished:D I hope you all liked it. And thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story from start to finish. **_

_**I'm pretty sad now. I have new fanfics almost ready and raring to go, but they're not Beyblade, so the chances are that a lot of you guys won't have much interest in them (sad face).**_

_**Oh well. I hope at least some of you follow me as I nervously break into my new fandom! XD**_

_**Ah…what is that fandom, you ask?**_

_**Well I think I'll let that be a surprise ;D Unless I've mentioned it somewhere before…I don't think so.**_

_**The plan is to write all or most of my new fics before posting them so people don't have to wait so terribly long for updates (like you poor people did) but…I'm impatient. They'll probably appear sooner rather than later. Previews will be put on my profile at some point :D Please check them out!**_

_**But this story is officially over now…so it's time to say…adieu! (Sob) Once again, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I'm so happy (and shocked) at the number of nice reviews this story got. You guys are great!**_

_**Until my next story appears…**_

_**Fiver x **_


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